A movie with a theme that flows - certainly extraordinary

Rating: 8/10 (4 January 2007)

Tyler Gage (Channing Tatum) is a normal street teen who enjoys crashing cars, breaking stuff and causing disruption in general, along with his pal Mac (Damaine Radcliff) and Mac's little brother Skinny(De'Shawn Washington). One night the trio breaks in to Maryland Arts School's Theatre landing Tyler a $200 fine plus Community Service at the School.
Nora Clark (Jenna Dewan), an aspiring dancer at Maryland School of Arts, is a senior with an upcoming showcase where important dignitaries of various Dance Companies will determine her future. Nora holds an audition for a dance partner after her original parter Andrew backs out due to a sprained ankle. She discovers Tyler's dancing talent and the two team up for her showcase.
Tyler begins to take his passion for dancing seriously - the one thing he has ever taken seriously in his life. This leads him to Director Gordon's (Rachel Griffiths) office to inquire about transferring to Maryland School of Art. She demands he show her that he's worth the spot.
A tale of achieving your ambitions, of change that one person can go through with the help of another, of trust, romance and above all: Dance! Its what the movie is about. It has a theme, something we don't see much of in teen movies nowadays. Its theme is Dancing and its very well followed throughout the movie.
A feeble 5.5 rating on IMDb discouraged me from watching this movie at first. However, some of my friends urged me to watch it with them. I must admit I had quite a negative paradigm about "Step Up" and recently watching Channing Tatum's stiff acting in "She's the Man" didn't exactly have me too enthusiastic about it! After the hour and a half that I sat through it, my view did a 180 and all I could say was "Bravo!" The dancing routines are superb, the direction is pretty good, so is the choreography not to mention the unbelievably believable chemistry between Jenna Dewan and Channing Tatum. I see people criticizing the acting in this movie, but I think its much better than most, maybe not the best they could come up with, but its pretty good. Channing Tatum does a much better job in "Step Up" than he ever did in any of his scenes in "She's The Man" He brought the role of Tyler Gage to life and boy, can that guy dance! The soundtrack, too, was splendid and sets the mood for the movie. Overall a job well done! I recommend this to those who have the tiniest bit of dancing genes in them.