REVIEW: Step Up 2: The Streets with guest writer, Megan Wood

Step Up 2: The Streets by Megan Wood

Starring: Briana Evigan (Andie); Robert Hoffman (Chase); Cassie Ventura (Sophie); Will Kemp (Blake).

Directed by: Jon M. Chu

Written by: Toni Ann Johnson and Karen Barna

What’s it about? The follow-up to the 2006 smash hit, Step Up, STEP UP 2 THE STREETS follows a rebellious street dancer Andie (Briana Evigan) as she embarks on a journey to fit in at the elite Maryland School of the Arts, where she meets Chase (Robert Hoffman), the school’s hottest dancer (Rotten Tomatoes dot com). Andie’s still holding onto her old dream of dancing with an underground Baltimore street crew. MSA’s hottest talent Chase (Hoffman) is a rising star who's looking to break out of his mold - by forming a crew to compete in Baltimore's biggest, most raw street dancing battle, "The Streets." Now, as Chase joins forces with Andie, the two simultaneously clash and sizzle, sending Andie's two worlds into collision.The follow-up to the 2006 smash hit, Step Up, STEP UP 2 THE STREETS follows a rebellious street dancer Andie (Briana Evigan) as she embarks on a journey to fit in at the elite Maryland School of the Arts, where she meets Chase (Robert Hoffman), the school’s hottest dancer. Featuring the... [More]

Dancing movies have always copped a bit of flack, often dismissed as bad cinema while many of the population enjoy them. To be honest I’m a bit of a girl and I watch as many as I can get my hands on, the first Step Up being one. I enjoyed it, great dancing, good music and a cast with charisma which makes for an entertaining 90mins.

Water raves were all the rage back in '08

Step Up 2 – The Streets, does well delivering all the same ingredients and carrying on with the fun. Tyler, the main character from the first movie has a cameo, introducing us to Andie (Briana Evigan), a girl from his neighborhood and with enough balls to dance off against him. Andie has the same chip on her shoulder and when she gets herself into trouble for the last time Tyler arranges a position at MSA, the school that sent him on the straight and narrow.

Andie’s the complete opposite from what is expected at MSA, and struggles to fit in while juggling her old life and street dance crew. At MSA she bumps heads with Chase (Robert Hoffman) the golden boy at MSA but who’s also struggling with what’s expected of him. When Andie is kicked out of her crew Chase convinces her to start her own with the so called rejects at MSA, and so the movie goes from there.

To be honest the script echoes the first fairly typically as most dance movies seem too, there’s often clunky dialog but considering the dancing is the main priority no one seems to care. In this case it holds up purely for the dance moves and the great chemistry between the two leads, which is the first major lead roles for both. Personally I think Robert Hoffman (Chase) holds up better than Briana Evigan (Andie), mainly because he has an easy charm and honesty that the movie captures well. Another stand out would be Moose (Adam G. Sevani), who is the first to befriend Andie at MSA and who secretly dances like Michael Jackson.

The dancing is fantastic, paired together with great music and awesome dancers it made me wish I could dance just as well. Of course the finale dance off is spectacular, ending in a rain storm that doesn’t seem to bother the dancers too much so you just have to suspend disbelief for a little while. At the end of the day if your paying to see this at the cinema’s then you don’t care about any of that, you’re there to see some dancing and with this you’ll get your money’s worth.

3 out of 5 dancing in the rain stars!