Center Stage: Turn It Up

I can't believe how underrated this film is and how critical some have been about this film. When I first watched it. I was hooked on every scene. I showed this movie to so many of my friends and family that love dance movies and just a feel good film, they all said how good this movie was. The dancing is spectacular by the main character Kate. She is absolutely gorgeous, sexy and really knows how to dance.

The acting ability was flawed in a couple of instances but we are talking about people who more than likely have dancing as their first love and profession and acting as an add on so please! ease up all you massively criticizing people out there. WE are only talking about a few instances here anyway not the whole film.

I like this film more than the first, I've gotta say. There will be people that will disagree but if you are looking for a light hearted feel good film to watch with plenty of dancing, give this one a go.

Before watching this movie I did look it up here at IMDb, and did notice it didn't really have great ratings. Well, so glad I went with my vibe and watched it anyway. I loved the film. About Kate (Rachele Brooke Smith), I very much enjoyed watching her in this film. I've never heard of her before, but now I know who she is. Aside overall pretty (adorable smile) and cool dancer, personally, I think she did very good in her role as Kate. Somebody commented that she looks like Ashley Simpson (dark hair, pre-op Ashley). I agree, in quite a few scenes, I thought so, too, and I couldn't help for a moment to wonder if Ashley Simpson might've been a good Kate, too. Well, actually, probably, she would've done okay with the ballet dancing scenes since I hear that Ashley Simpson used to dance ballet when she was younger. But as for the other dancing styles performed in this movie, the only other kind of Ashley dancing I'm familiar with aside her ballet is the "Ashley Ho-down" thing. So, on second thought, nope. I don't think it would've been appropriate for this film. Picturing her as Kate, no. I think they definitely chose the appropriate actress for this film. I'm glad they went with Rachele Brooke Smith. She owned the part. She owned the dance floor. I look forward to seeing her in other cool films such as this. I give her and the overall movie a "10"!

I actually felt a better/stronger connection between Tommy and Kate than i did between Jody and Charlie or Jody and Cooper. I feel like there was a lot more emphasis on the romance between the two leads.

They did a good job incorporated the urban dance with the ballet, though I did miss the discipline and hard work that was shown in the last movie. I cant vouch for how realistic it was that Kate got the part, because i am no professional dancer. Although they did imply that she had some formal training up until she was twelve.

As someone mentioned before, most of the focus was on just Tommy and Kate, but that is probably why I felt that strong connection.

Though the movie was okay ,at times, it did seem like I was watching a documentary.

This movie had poor and stiff acting from the leads but the dancing was well done. I think if you're a dancer, it's probably worth the hour and a half, but if you're looking for a quality movie, this isn't really it. Rachele Brooke Smith, the main actress, needs a few more acting lessons before I'll watch her in a movie again. It felt like I was at a middle school play watching her act and she never stopped smiling during the whole movie, making it seem really fake after a little while. Her dancing was excellent though. Kenny Wormald is also an excellent dancer and his acting was better but his character came off as your average randy teenage boy, and I'm not sure if that's what the writers had in mind. The shiny diamond earring in his ear didn't help. The story is the same as most other dance movies, just with more ballet dancing than hip hop. But unlike other dance movies, the soundtrack really isn't worth it.

This is a great little movie. As somebody else wrote, the chemistry between the leads was wonderful. In a way this shouldn't be compared with the first Center Stage, which was more like Fame (trials and tribulations of an ensemble at an arts school, in this case a dance academy).

CS: Turn It Up is really a dance romance, which we haven't seen for a while (Step Up 2 wasn't very romantic). The first Center Stage was very cheesy, while this one is much lower on the cheese scale.

There's a great sweetness to the lead couple's relationship, and while they are clearly great dancers rather than experienced actors, they're very natural with each other.

Highly recommended and very satisfying (and the music is GREAT--I thought it was even better than the first Center Stage's soundtrack, which was also very good.)