Not exactly high-stepping

Rating: 6/10 (19 October 2002)

I give this film some credit for trying to tackle some interesting issues of race within the cornball constraints of this type of picture. It's handicapped by the cliched characters and the relentless demands for hap- hap- happy endings for everyone. Overall, this film was OK, but a little too earnest. It was nothing special, but OK. My biggest gripe is that the dancing -- which is the big thing the film has to sell -- is nothing special. Neither the hip hop or the ballet sequences particularly impressed me, and I love that type of thing. Center Stage, for example, has much sillier characters but the dancing was so superior that I enjoyed it much more.