Vivre pour danser

What a wonderful surprise to find such a terrific film of dance and music in STEP UP and the actors/dancers were out of this world. Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan are magic on the screen and the music is sensational. My friend, Alia, from UCLA, had raved about this film and wanted me to see it, and I am so glad that I did. I found not only the music and dancing, but the story set in the jungle of a big city of young black men and a young white man struggling to survive and come up with fulfilling lives, to be a journey that is true to the lives of so many young men and women today in metropolitan cities in the USA.

Duane Adler and Melissa Rosenberg have created a film in STEP UP that just hits your heart and soul with the character development created through the actors music and dance, and the sets and costumes which fit each character. I didn't want this film to end, but the last scene is just the one you wanted to see and feel. With STEP UP, you have a strong story, incredible music, wonderful young actors in a diverse world, and the hope that now their young lives can really begin. Loved this film.

In Baltimore, the troublemaker and street dancer Tyler Gage (Channing Tatum) lives with his foster parents in an Afro-American lower class neighborhood. His best friends are Mac Carter (Damaine Radcliff) and his little brother Skinny Carter (De'Shawn Washington) and they use to hang around together, going to parties and stealing cars. After being expelled of a party, the trio breaks in the Maryland School of Arts and commits vandalism, destroying the stage. Tyler is arrested and sentenced to 200 hours of community service in the school and Director Gordon (Rachel Griffiths) assigns him to help the janitor cleaning the place. One afternoon, the ballet dancer Nora Clark (Jenna Dewan) sees Tyler dancing in the parking area and when her partner Andrew (Tim Lacatena) has a strain and Tyler offers to help her in the choreography, she accepts the offer; they rehearsal and become close to each other while Tyler becomes friend of the students Miles Darby (Mario) and Lucy Avila (Drew Sidora). When Andrew returns, Tyler that is known for quitting everything he starts gives up dancing and leaves Nora alone. After an incident, Tyler has to decide to follow his dream or return to his life of rebel loser.

"Step Up" was a wonderful and delightful surprise for me. The heartwarming romantic story shows a perfect chemistry between Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan, supported by a magnificent cast and awesome songs and choreographies of dance. There are also drama and tragedy, funny moments and I recalled Alan Parker's "Fame" and "Center Stage" with the students following their dreams in an art school. The characters are nice, the actors and actresses are excellent and I have really loved this movie. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Ela Dança, Eu Danço" ("She Dances, I Dance")

You've seen it all – feel-good story of deprived, delinquent kid finding the meaning of life, dedicated effort culminating in an upbeat dance finale, rich-girl-poor-guy routine, and a whole bunch of familiar situations. But, if the dance and music are good, you'll tend to forget the improbable, unlikely, illogical, contrived story and plot. Given the lame script, top choreographer Anne Fletcher's first crack at directing didn't come off too badly, partly because of the wise use of very short scenes. As to the dance routines, with her credentials, you wouldn't expect anything less than good, and the movie does deliver in that department. The stimulating fusion of hip hop and ballet is well synchronized with fusion in the music. While the attention would obviously be on the showcase number that the protagonists are developing, I also like one particular scene at a gig, when the two sidekicks sing on stage while the two leads do their thing on the dance floor. This scene has the beauty of exciting spontaneity not seen elsewhere in the movie.

While several portions of this movie were textbook cliché, I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it. Usually I don't bother with mainstream, commercial movies that are so obviously and unabashedly manufactured to sell to a teenage audience, but I had seen Channing Tatum in She's the Man (another movie that I was hesitant to see, but didn't regret it afterward), and thought he was absolutely gorgeous! Step Up would not have been as good as it was without him. He made even some of the more awkward lines of the script sound original and I really enjoyed watching him bust a move. Several parts were genuinely amusing and heart-warming despite the well-worn story of a bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks who falls in love with the uptight rich dancer. Overall, it was pure fluffy entertainment, like Save the Last Dirty Dancing. Just don't go in expecting much or analyze it too deeply and you'll enjoy it as much as I did.

"I'm fighting, for something that's real for the first time in my life!"

When Anne Fletcher made her directorial debut way back in 2006 no one imagined that this small budget film with a relatively unknown cast would end up grossing over 100 million in the US and inspiring a franchise that currently stands at five movies. It wasn't received warmly by the critics due to its cliché storyline and corny dialogues, but audiences dug it. I never was interested in the franchise and this was my first time actually sitting down and watching one. The main reason was because I knew this was Channing Tatum's break out role. He had done a couple of movies before with smaller roles, but this was the first time he was given a lead role. Tatum has delivered some strong roles recently (Foxcatcher being his most impressive) so I wanted to go back and revisit some of his earlier work. I was surprised I actually ended up enjoying this film as much as I did and I think it is largely due to Tatum's charisma. He didn't deliver a great performance, but he definitely carried the film with his charm making it enjoyable. The dancing was also pretty solid although I am not much of an expert in that area. The main problems with Step Up revolve around the clichéd screenplay and dull subplots that almost derailed the film completely, but the charisma from Tatum and his excellent chemistry with Jenna Dewan make this an entertaining viewing experience. It's been 9 years since Tatum and Dewan met on set for this movie and they are still together in real life. The chemistry was really there.

Step Up is one of those films that you know is formulaic, unoriginal, and without any great technical achievements, but you still find it enjoyable due to the charismatic lead performances. You could file Step Up under the romance/dance genre along with other films as Bring it On, Save the Last Dance, and Honey. The screenplays are perhaps the weakest thing about these films, but you still can find them enjoyable when the lead characters deliver charismatic performances and know how to dance. That is the case with Channing Tatum who plays a troubled young teen who lives with his foster parents and spends a lot of time in the streets. One night out with his friends he ends up vandalizing an arts school and gets caught. He is ordered to do 200 hours of community service as payment for the damages he caused. At the school he meets a young student from a wealthy family played by Jenna Dewan who dreams of becoming a dancer. When her dancing partner gets injured, he offers to help, and the plot evolves from there.

The story works best when it focuses on the two lead characters rehearsing and dancing together, but when the film shifts its focus on other subplots revolving around their friends the story losses some of its appeal. There is unnecessary conflict introduced in the film that is resolved rather easily and in a predictable way. There is also a tragic scene that takes place near the end of the film that felt out of place (the melodrama is poorly handled by the screenwriters). However, the final dance scene is one of the best in the movie so it does end in a positive note. Despite its predictable storyline and formulaic premise, Step Up is still an enjoyable film. Not good enough however to get me interested in the sequels.