Battle of the Year

The producer Dante Graham (Laz Alonso) promotes a group of b-boys expecting to bring the Battle of the Year Trophy back to the USA that have not won it in fifteen years. He hires his friend and former basketball couch Jason Blake (Josh Holloway) that grieves the loss of his wife and son to prepare his team. Blake fires the whole team since they do not have motivation and decides to select a new group of dancers under the nickname of Dream Team. He also hires the youngster Franklyn (Josh Peck) and the choreographer of break-dance Stacy (Lotz Caity) to help him. Along the months, Blake tries to implement teamwork and works hard with the group. In the competition in France, he has a great surprise.

"Battle of the Year" is a disappointing and predictable collection of clichés. It is amazing how many times this storyline has been used in different environments and sports ("decadent couch hires a team of losers that in the end surprises in a competition") with a corny message in the end. Fans of break-dance and hip-hop may enjoy a little more but this movie is terrible. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "A Batalha do Ano" ("Battle of the Year")

Battle of the Year... somehow didn't have the soul of Stomp the Yard... should've killed Breezy off in the very beginning... that would have fixed it... But seriously... so disappointing... I don't know what went wrong... I was watching and hoping something would happen... and "second sucks" ??? Maybe the music is to blame... Maybe the whole concept of America representing all other countries was more of the focus... Maybe having the "Bring it on" star as the on-screen choreographer... Maybe the "You think you can dance" approach for the Dream Team... Is it a movie about team work?? I'm so confused... I think the major setback was in the end we don't know what's the movie about... Josh Holloway saved the movie, without whom the movie would have been unwatchable.

I have a belief that every movie should be watched at least once. After seeing some reviews throughout multiple sites that this movie was not that great, and just gave terrible reviews I went out and rented from Redbox to see. I was at the edge of my seat, waiting to see what happen next. Enjoyed the story, enjoyed the cast. It wasn't your typical dance movie, "You got serve" or "Step up" it took what was there and expanded with an additional idea, let's make a new Dream Crew with the best of the best. This movie deserves to be watched and given the chance.

On a side not, some reviews complained about Chris Brown and his acting in this movie, well he did that in this movie by acting. If his personal character is to be attack, I believe that that is a different review, the overall moral of a lot of people that get TV time should be in check. I don't know Chris Brown personally but he is a persona, a entertainer and everything that he is paid to do is that.

Just give it a chance and make your own opinion

Thanks

Sorry I don't agree with reviews that call it bad, but I'm bias I love seeing the talents of the dancers and they bring it! Dancing with the blind folds was sick! Plus I love Breezy so again bias. I even like the human story & uplifting message of change Your mind, change Your life!! Being a team United. Saw this with my now 19 yr old, we enjoyed it!!!

If you lose your passion for something, you might feel lost. So does our main actor here (you may know him from a TV show called Lost), who has to train a few kids to do something that seems unachievable. Mainly because some of his pupils didn't lose their focus, they didn't have it to begin with.

But the movie does have a story, even though we have a lot of characters that have to fit into the story, you do get a bit of their background and the movie does make sense. The dancing is OK, with some wicked things/stunts being performed. The story is more than decent and is fun to watch. Overall something people who like "battle" movies might very well enjoy