Let's get one thing straight: Step Up 3-D, the latest installment of Disney's dance-focused franchise, won't change the course of cinema. It certainly won't compete with Inception or Toy Story 3 as the best movie of 2010.
But, if you accept the film as what it is – an excuse to show toned, shapely bodies violating gravity in increasingly spectacular settings – then it's a fun time at the movies.
Rick Malambri, Alyson Stoner, Adam G. Sevani & Sharni Vinson Star in Disney's Step Up 3-D
Here's the set-up: dancer/aspiring filmmaker Luke (Ashton Kutcher look-a-like Rick Malambri) needs $100,000 to save his warehouse studio/crash pad. By Amazing Coincidental Machine™, that's the prize money offered to whoever wins World Jam, a street-dancing competition.
Recruiting naive-but-talented newcomer Moose (Adam G. Sevani) and the mysterious Natalie (Sharni Vinson) for his troupe The Pirates, Luke must also stay ahead of the bank and über-rival Julien (Joe Slaughter), both of whom want his warehouse. For his part, Moose must choose between his love of dance and his parents' desire for him to be an engineer, plus his shifting relationship with BFF Camille (Alyson Stoner).
This plot is so threadbare it threatens to blow away in the breeze, and a 10-year-old could call the twists and be right 100% of the time. But that's not really the point: this flick's all about the dance routines and those are "great," to quote a professional dancer viewing the screening. The routines are beautifully choreographed and shot, while the editors are smart enough to keep the film's energy up without obscuring the action with shaky cam or epileptic editing. You can see the occasional use of body doubles for certain scenes involving the central actors, but it's discreetly done.
The only truly annoying part of Step Up 3-D is the 3-D aspect. The filmmakers are about as subtle as a moose in heat: the result is a real 'paddle-ball' fest with everything from dancers to balloons to slushy drinks flung towards the audience at every available moment.
Summit Entertainment, Disney's Step Up 3-D Is Dumb Fun
The trick in film reviews is applying different standards to different movies: The Kids Are All Right has very different intentions from something like Despicable Me, and cannot be directly compared.
But one central question still remains: does a film succeed in what it sets out to accomplish? By those standards, Step Up 3-D works. The plot moves fast enough that you don't notice the holes and the choreography is wonderful. If Disney had avoided the temptation to hurl everything at the audience in the most blatant misuse of 3-D technology since Andy Warhol's Frankenstein, Step Up 3-D might have earned more than a 3/5.
Dominic von Riedemann - Dominic is the Animated Film Feature Writer, and winner of 11 Suite 101 Editors' Choice Awards.
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