Step Up 3D: Movie Review

Step Up 3D: Movie Review

Step Up 3D
Rating: 4/10
Cast: Rick Malambri, Adam G Sevani, Sharni Vinson
Director: Jon Chu
So it's back to the heady world of street dance for a third time.
This time we're back in Nooo Yoik, with Adam G Sevani's Moose about to start college - Moose, a nerdyish kind of kid who reminds you of Bruno from the original Fame because of the curls...well, that and the dancing.
Moose is going to college to study engineering - but his heart's really in the street dance. When he finds himself slap bang in the middle of a dance off during orientation he catches the eye of Rick Malambri's Luke, a chiseled chinned wonder who's like the foster dad to the street dance community.
You see, Luke's parents used to be dancers - and Luke carried on their dream by opening a club and training ground for his street crew The Pirates and generally nurturing the dancing talent in the city.
Unfortunately though, the bank's about to foreclose on the club and their only shot at survival is to win the World Jam Championships and take on their arch rivals The Golden Samurai.
Throw into that teen mix, the arrival of dancer Natalie (Home and Away's Sharni Vinson) who catches Luke's eye but harbours a terrible secret - and the showdown's set.
Look, Step Up 3D is clichéd, full of quite frankly terrible dialogue (You were born to dance is just one of the clunkers) and twists that you can see coming a mile off.
The characters are relatively 2D and have a penchant for at times seeming wooden - but let's be brutally honest, a film like this isn't about the plot - or even the acting.
That's simply secondary to the dance sequences themselves - and the majority of the film segueways from one heavily choreographed dance section into another.
The 3D brings some of those sections to life (although you can already envisage how it'll be used - a hat flies in the air) and while some of them are impressive -particularly the final dance off section - they feel a little too heavily choreographed and just didn't engage me. That's not to knock the commitment and passion of the cast while they're dancing - they give 110% in the dancing stakes.
Some of that I think could be the age difference - I'm clearly never going to be a B Boy busting out some phat moves in a dance crew showdown.
Though it has to be admitted that there will be certain sections of the teen audience which will lap this up and want to head home to copy da movez.

Ultimately the 3D element in this Step Up is a little wasted and doesn't really bring much to the genre - but your teens will adore it and may well be inspired by it all.