Friday, April 18, 2008

Step Up and Dance..


I hate sequels. Usually.I mean, can you count how many great movies established a legion of fans only to disappoint them with inexplicably bad sequels? And there's one major reason for this common pitfall, PROFIT. It is what drives producers to hastily try and come up with another movie, to capitalize on the success of the first one. But happily, there had been exceptions: Spiderman, LOTR: The Two Towers, and a few others.


Surprisingly, Step Up 2: The Streets made the narrow cut. It is almost at par with the first one and with one distinct difference to its advantage. While the concept is still fighting for what you're passionate about, stepping up for what you believe in despite the odds, it is devoid of the sappy drama that was injected in the first one. Remember when Skinny Carter had to die? And how it changed his brother Mac for the better? I felt like they just had to include that to give the movie more depth. But it felt fake to me. And it's the only part that I didn't like in the first movie. Why couldn't they have done away with it and made the change triggered internally rather than from something happening from the outside? Furthermore, the second one had another valuable lesson. Not all the people you become friends with are family. These kind of families can jilt you at any given time and give you a false sense of belonging. But of course, what made the movie fun is still the adrenaline pumping dance routines, and the music. Favorite scene in the movie? When Moose danced to Timbaland's The Way I Are on the school steps. And the ending? Definitely explosive! Step Up just made the list of my fave dance movies that includes Center Stage and You Got Served.
* With thanks to Moncs for the pic posted here. http://www.flickr.com/photos/moni42/2401245831/

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