I did not see 'Step Up' so I will not base this review on the back of the first one. Somewhat in the same vein as 'Honey', 'You Got Served' (sic) young oriented dance movies, I found the same general feel to 'Step Up 2'. A range of mediocre acting, phenomenal choreography and dancers, simple and predictable plot and morals of the story.
Predictability
1- Ballet is boring, it is (usually) depicted as bland and too 'classical' in a film of this genre to young folks. The main character Andie is essentially a street non-professional hip hop dancer, does not know how to interpret the classical music she is given by her teacher, thus continues to do the style of dancing what she normally would to hip hop music; its cute and funny. Later on it shows that all forms of dance make one great versatile dancer.
2- Stereotype main character is a White girl. Not too many complains here, because I was surprised to see they did not make it known or emphasis that fact that she was white, who was enthusiastic about hip hop and street dancing. She was just there along with all the members of the '401 crew'.
3- Mean black people. This one never fails. We have the angry high tempered black male of 401, and the supportive black girl (Felicia) that always stands behind her friend, but later loses her patience and finally is fed up and gets an 'attitude' (whether constantly covering up for Andie's absences was necessary or not is objective).
4- Foreign accent student of any ethnicity. Jenny Kido has funny one liners, although the humor mostly depends and derives from the broken English of said person -- basically doesn't really have any real dialog throughout the whole movie.
5- Cute Hispanic girl who from time to time speaks Spanglish. Missy whose family is almost painfully stereotypical, said a few phrases in Spanish in the beginning of the film, and wears stand out looking clothing.
This was the first movie I ever saw where I subconsciously knew what was happening next during some moments envisioned in my head, it seemed. Still, 'Step Up 2' was better than what I expected it to be.
Predictability
1- Ballet is boring, it is (usually) depicted as bland and too 'classical' in a film of this genre to young folks. The main character Andie is essentially a street non-professional hip hop dancer, does not know how to interpret the classical music she is given by her teacher, thus continues to do the style of dancing what she normally would to hip hop music; its cute and funny. Later on it shows that all forms of dance make one great versatile dancer.
2- Stereotype main character is a White girl. Not too many complains here, because I was surprised to see they did not make it known or emphasis that fact that she was white, who was enthusiastic about hip hop and street dancing. She was just there along with all the members of the '401 crew'.
3- Mean black people. This one never fails. We have the angry high tempered black male of 401, and the supportive black girl (Felicia) that always stands behind her friend, but later loses her patience and finally is fed up and gets an 'attitude' (whether constantly covering up for Andie's absences was necessary or not is objective).
4- Foreign accent student of any ethnicity. Jenny Kido has funny one liners, although the humor mostly depends and derives from the broken English of said person -- basically doesn't really have any real dialog throughout the whole movie.
5- Cute Hispanic girl who from time to time speaks Spanglish. Missy whose family is almost painfully stereotypical, said a few phrases in Spanish in the beginning of the film, and wears stand out looking clothing.
This was the first movie I ever saw where I subconsciously knew what was happening next during some moments envisioned in my head, it seemed. Still, 'Step Up 2' was better than what I expected it to be.