Step Up D movie review (2010)

Step Up 3D (2010)

In the third installment of the "Step Up" franchise, a tight-knit group of street dancers, including Luke and Natalie, team up with NYU freshman Moose, and find themselves pitted against the world’s best breakdancers in a high-stakes showdown that will change their lives forever. "Step Up 3D" has self-proclaimed itself as the first ever 3D dance drama, but in fact, "StreetDance 3D", a slightly better British flick, which was released on May 21 this year, takes the crown as the first 3D dance movie ever. Anyway, that's not of a big importance to me, since I saw the ordinary 2D version of both films. "Step Up 3D" doesn't have much to offer, except for a bunch of crisply-choreographed dance routines that never fail to entertain, and a wonderfully upbeat music score, that is a joy to listen. The plot is your typical predictable 'dance movie' story, filled with countless cliches, nonsensical dialogues and stereotypical characters, but nevertheless the film is often fun to watch, and it does manage to entertain throughout its running time. Acting-wise, "Step Up 3D" is pretty decent. Adam G. Sevani as Moose is not only adorable, but he's the real star of the movie, as he lightens up the screen everytime he appears. Alyson Stoner as Moose's best friend, Camille, has a very minor role here, but she's probably the most likable character in the movie. The gorgeous-looking Sharni Vinson and Rick Malambri give passable performances as the two leads and they share good on-screen chemistry, and their romance feels believable. Also, the film featuers "So You Think You Can Dance" star Twitch, who does an admireable job, although he's not an actual actor, but just an incredible dancer. "Step Up 3D" is all about the dancing, and this is the area where the film mostly succeeds. The dance choreography ranges from spectaculat to decent, but the routines are always engaging, quite effective and a pure joy to watch. Shallow, yet fun, fairly entertaining and impressively-choreographed, "Step Up 3D" is definitely a notch above its mediocre predecessor "Step Up 2: The Streets".

• My Rating: 5.50/10
• Rotten Tomatoes: 48% (5.1/10)
• IMDb: 4.9/10