Step Up 2 the Streets and The Spiderwick Chronicles
As I was leaving the screening for Step Up 2 the Streets, the publicist inquired as to my opinion. My first instinct was to mention Fred Astaire. Right there, I exposed myself as so far outside the world of the intended audience of this movie that I suspect we see different constellations in the sky.
But stick in there—it is a comparison that I think is valid. Just like Fred Astaire movies, Step Up 2 the Streets is a dancing movie and a lot can therefore be forgiven if the set pieces provide the wow. I barely even remember the story told in Astaire’s Royal Wedding, but it goes in my list of favorite fun films simply for getting to watch him dance on the ceiling of his cruise ship stateroom.
Outside of the dancing sequences, Step Up 2 the Streets really hasn’t anything to recommend it. The cast was apparently chosen more for their dancing ability than their acting chops, which is how it should be but does make the majority of the movie with no dancing hard to sit through.
The story here is standard teen drama cliché. Andie (Briana Evigan; and that’s a family name that’s recognizable from the late-1980s) has recently been orphaned and has found her new family in an underground street dance crew currently gaining headlines for a brazen series of “dance attacks” on the Baltimore subways. Her frustrated guardian is about to ship her off to live with an aunt in Texas when Tyler (Channing Tatum) from the first movie makes a brief appearance to get her an audition at the prestigious Maryland School of Arts.
Of course Andie gets in, and then has to deal with the conflicts between her two worlds and suffering the humiliation of being kicked out of her crew. Chase (Robert Hoffman), a rebellious student at MSA, learns of this and encourages her to start her own crew using the social outcasts of the school. And while they’re at it they can try to compete in “The Streets,” an underground competition of street dancing crews
As a framework for three or four knock-out dance set pieces this would be a more than adequate. Unfortunately, this is the major part of the movie. The dance set pieces are there but unfortunately they are very flat and unimpressive until the ultimate performance at The Streets. Now, that final performance is an absolutely amazing piece of choreography and certainly ends the movie on a high note. But I suspect that the same satisfaction could be found by watching videos on MTV (or whatever music network actually shows those these days) or real self-made videos on YouTube, and therefore it isn’t necessary to subject yourself to the first 75 minutes of the movie to get the final 15-minute payoff (the second best thing about the movie is the dancing over the end credits).
I’m no expert so I can’t say if the flatness of the earlier dance scenes is a result of choreography or editing, but I suspect a fair amount of blame belongs with the latter. I know it is old-fogey of me but I really do think a key part of showcasing dance on the big screen is to pull the camera back so you can see the whole body and hold a shot long enough to see enough the dancer’s skill to trust it isn’t a camera trick.
On the plus side, if you’re a parent concerned about the imagery your kids see on the screen more than any approach to reality, this is a film about a Baltimore street subculture in which there is no swearing, drugs, sex (beyond putting dancers’ bodies on attractive display), and only a bit of violence. The Baltimore streets of Step Up 2 the Streets is even tamer in its PG-13 rating than in Step Up (review), and certainly gives a completely different world than you’d see in an episode of The Wire.
Movie Details
- Step Up 2 the Streets is a Touchstone Pictures release
- Wide release on Friday, February 16
- Directed by Jon Chu
- Screenplay by Toni Ann Johnson and Karen Barna
- Starring Briana Evigan, Robert Hoffman, Adam G. Sevani, Black Thomas, Will Kemp
- Rated PG-13 for language, some suggestive material and brief violence.
- Running time: 97 minutes
- Alex Rating: 5 out of 10
The Spiderwick Chronicles
The march to get every children’s fantasy novel of the last century converted to film continues this weekend with The Spiderwick Chronicles based on the first novel in a series by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black.
Unlike other recent ponderously self-important series (not that such is necessarily a bad thing), The Spiderwick Chronicles most reminded me of 1995’s Jumanji. A magical world with its strangely arbitrary rules (tomato sauce kills goblins, eating certain foods will make you unable to ever eat any other, etc.) is overlayed on the everyday humdrum of familial discord and the unsettled uncertainty of adolescence.
In the end, there is no real message for the movie and it is primarily focused on being a kid version of an action movie, moving from one set piece to the next. While I found it a little too fluffy, it is also the kind of thing I would have absolutely loved when I was 12.
Helen Grace (Mary-Louise Parker) is splitting from her husband and is moving her three kids to a relatives odd estate since the occupant for the last 80ish years has been shuttled off to a sanitarium leaving it empty.
Her children Mallory (Sarah Bolger) and twins Jared and Simon (both played by Freddie Highmore) quickly stumble onto the fact that the house is in the middle of a hidden world of magic and the standard magical creatures (goblins, fairies, brownies, ogres, trolls, etc.). When Jared, who is having the most trouble with the changes, finds a hidden room and reads a book that shouldn’t have been read, he sets into action a course of events that risks giving an ogre named Mulgarath (Nick Nolte) the knowledge necessary to control all the other other magical creatures.
Some of the fighting scenes will be too intense for younger children (in an initial conflict some serious injuries are inflicted on the children) but otherwise they’re mild versions of some of the fighting you’d see in Harry Potter movies.
Probably the weirdest thing about this movie (even weirder than a hobgoblin having reason to spit loogies in people’s faces) is the assortment of accents of this family. They’re in the state of New York somewhere and apparently grew up in New York City, but everybody has hints of decidedly un-New York accents (except David Strathairn as the 1920s-era Arthur Spiderwick). Freddie Highmore spends the movie speaking in a weird whisper but it isn’t clear if this is to hide the fact that the 15-year-old has a changed voice beyond his character’s age or to help hide his London accent. Aunt Lucinda, who lived in the house her entire life also has an accent.
In fact, the only major characters who don’t have accents are the ones you might most expect since the magical mythology is straight out of the European tradition. Nick Nolte provides the voice of Mulgarath. Seth Rogan (Knocked Up, Superbad) is the hobgoblin Hogsqueal; Martin Short is the house brownie Thimbletack.
Taken completely on its own terms, the movie is a reasonably amusing romp. But with so much competition out there in the fantasy movie marketplace, it is hard to recommend this for adults seeking their own entertainment. However, the movie is more than worthy as a family friendly weekend matinee, and will really be a good DVD movie in a couple months.
Movie Details
- The Spiderwick Chronicles is a Nickelodeon Movies release
- Wide release on Friday, February 16
- Directed by Mark Waters
- Screenplay by Karey Kirkpatrick and David Berenbaum
- Starring Freddie Highmore, Sarah Bolger, Mary-Louise Parker, Martin Short
- Rated PG for scary creature action and violence, peril and some thematic elements.
- Alex Rating: 6 out of 10
