Step Up 2 Crashes Down

Rating: 2/10 (17 June 2009)

Being a dancer, I'm drawn to dancing movies. "Step Up" came to theaters almost three years ago now, and although it didn't bring the finesse that my favorite dance movie "CenterStage" had, it held an enjoyable character of its own. Although I know Step Up 2 has been out for some time now, Ifinally decided to give it a go. That was my first mistake. The second?Leaving it on after the first ten minutes. Not only is it generally just a poor movie, the dancing was lacking too. Stomp the Yard completely Stomps this movie in the dancing department, although the acting is about the same. The only thing that I enjoyed in this film was the special appearance by Channing Tatum, and that's only because his chiseled features and gorgeous eyes entrance me every time.
Where to begin? Let's start with the terrible acting. Briana Evigan plays the part of Andie, a rebellious teenager, who's mother died at age 16 and is on her last chance living with her late mother's best friend (seem familiar?). Her last chance to stay in Maryland, as from the previous Step Up, is attending the Maryland School of the Arts. Robert Hoffman plays Chase, the preppy boy-band, blonde-haired dancer. Supposed sparks are supposed to fly between Chase and Andie, but obviously I missed the cue, because I couldn't even see a sliver of heat between them on-screen. A romantic scene between the two during an evening party had the words cheesy and cliché written all over it, which left me cringing. After Andie is kicked out of her own crew, her and Chase randomly decide to start one. Soon, a group of wanna-be dancers meet to work on a routine for the big competition "The Streets." After they realize they suck, they start re-working their routine. In the meantime, Andie's ex-crew gets word of the new crew, and trash MSA's studio, which gets Andie expelled. It was a good decision by me, although it was far from the right reason. The crew falls apart, and the usual "I'm sad and miss you" montage of Andie, Chase, and the rest of the crew ensues. The next thing you know, the crew's back together at Andie's door the same night as The Streets competition. After arriving at the infamous underground competition, they're told they don't belong there, it's a competition for locals only, and that they should go home. And, as predicted, Andie gets up and starts in on the heartfelt speech, which was almost heartbreaking to have to put up with. Pretending to act ghetto, she pleads to the crowd to let her crew dance. And, as predicted, they suddenly change their minds and cheer her on as they all rush outside in the rain to watch the final crew dance. The final dance had some interesting choreography, and the rain added a cool twist, but again, I was left lacking excitement. It was clear that some of their moves were stolen from past seasons of the hit Fox reality show, "So You Think You Can Dance," which I'm sure was input given by producer Adamm Shankman.
Step Up 2 lacks creativity, a good plot-line, original choreography, talented actors, and just about everything in between. To quote my favorite show, FRIENDS, "Well, the lighting was all right." If only that were enough to make a movie worth seeing.
If producers are going to continue with this "sequel" fad, they better be darn sure it's going to blow the original out of the water. Then maybe it'll stand a chance for it to actually be just as good as the first. Hopefully producer Adamm Shankman will keep that in mind while they're working on the newest sequel, "Step Up: 3-D." I sure don't want to torture myself watching another disastrous dancing movie again.