Under the continued direction of Jon Chu (who took over from Anne Fletcher for Step Up 2 the Streets), Step Up 3D elevates the ridiculous to new levels—and that isn’t meant in a good way. And yet, the badness is so over the top and everybody seems to be perfectly aware of it, that it doesn’t get in the way of a certain level of enjoyment.
When last seen, Moose (Adam G. Sevani) was a gawky geeky high school kid who loved to dance in Baltimore. Now Moose is a gawky geeky freshman at New York University who still loves to dance, but for some reason is supposed to have given it up to be an engineering major (this seems to be at the prodding of his parents, but one then wonders why they’d been paying for him to go to the Maryland School of Art in the last movie).
On his first day in New York, Moose ditches lifelong friend Camille (Alyson Stoner) when he sees someone wearing a fancy pair of Nikes and stumbles into an impromptu dance-off. When he wins—apparently beating one of the best—he’s drafted into a dance crew called House of Pirates by its leader, Luke (Rick Malambri), who also offers up a giant Bohemian loft for everyone who needs a place to stay. Of course, he’s behind on the mortgage and to save the loft, the House of Pirates needs to go all Brady Bunch and win the upcoming World Jam dance battle, which comes with a $100,000 prize. And as expected, there’s a vitriolic rivalry with another crew that will win at all costs, as well as the obligatory pretty girl (Sharni Vinson), who shows up to create drama for Luke while also falling in love.
Since the movie doesn’t really take any of this seriously, there’s no reason for the audience to do so. After all, this crew apparently warms up for dance rehearsal by doing parkour sprints across the New York rooftops, and rival dance gangs menace people in (amazingly large) club restrooms with their wicked moves. When nothing is particularly serious, it is difficult to get too worked up about the atrocious acting, writing, and filming of the not-dancing scenes—and it is really atrocious.
©Touchstone Pictures
The only real question is whether the dance scenes are worth the price of admission and worth laughing at the 70 minutes of movie without any dancing in it. On that front, you’re probably safe. Yes, you have to sit through a lot of really bad dialog, but most of the dance sequences fulfill their promise to thrill. Even the rehearsal montages are fun, having been used as a place to dump single moves that probably didn’t quite make it into the battle choreography.
Spread throughout the movie are six extended dance sequences, including the two rehearsal montages. A lot of what’s done in these sequences is simply an amazing demonstration of what is possible for the human form to do. There are three formal “battles” through the movie culminating in the World Jam championship (apparently only eight crews entered this global competition) and the details of how exactly the competition is judged are never laid out, but it wouldn’t matter, anyway. The weakest dance sequence is an honest-to-goodness Gene Kelly-esque dance duet by Sevani and Stoner who, while kind of cute, don’t really have the charisma to pull it off.
John Chu and his choreographers were fully aware they were making Step Up 3D and not just Step Up 3, so everyone is constantly dancing into the camera, throwing stuff into the camera, spitting into the camera. When they’re not trying to kick the audience in the face, the use of 3D actually adds impact to the dancing—but except for a couple gimmicks, it quickly grows wearisome and feels like a distraction on the choreography.
©Touchstone Pictures
So it appears that the Step Up has either finally found the right balance of silly fun or it has simply worn me down through attrition, but I had enough fun that I can’t honestly recommend against seeing it if you think you’re interested, and if you’re going to see it eventually, seeing it on a big screen will be much better than watching clips on your iPhone.
[Editor’s Note: This movie is produced by So You Think You Can Dance judge Adam Shankman, and includes various contestants from past seasons in supporting roles, including Joshua Allen (Season 4 winner), Tony Bellissimo (Season 5), Stephen “Twitch” Boss (Season 4), Ivan Cedric Gardner (Season 3), Koumaev (Season 2), Ashlee Nino (Season 2), Jonathan “Legacy” Perez (Season 6), and Katee Shean (Season 4).]
- Step Up 3D is a Touchstone Pictures release
- Wide release on Friday, August 6
- Directed by Jon Chu
- Screenplay by Amy Andelson and Emily Meyer
- Starring Adam G. Sevani, Rick Malambri, Sharni Vinson, Alyson Stoner
- Rated PG-13 for brief strong language.
- Alex Rating: 6 out of 10
