Breakdance 2

Nothing in the world can prepare you for Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo. No description does it justice, no warning truly gives you an idea of what you are in store for. Few movies are as bizarre, yet oddly compelling at the same time.

Because one movie wasn't enough to contain these people; Breakin 2 picks up where the first movie picks off. Or so I assume, I haven't seen Breakin, but the three main characters Kelly (Lucinda Dickey), Ozone (Adolfo Quinones) and Turbo (Michael Chambers) are the same. In this installment the trio try to save a youth center named Miracles from the clutches of evil (read: white and unhip) government bigwigs who want to bulldoze the unsafe building and make way for a new shopping center.

It's fortunate that the trio live in an alternate universe in which breakdancing can solve all of society's ills. No exaggeration here; over the course of ninety-four boogie filled minutes, dancing stops bulldozers, pays bills, ends gang wars, and even cures the ill and the infirm (One person bounds out of the wheelchair in jubilation; apparently they simply forgot they could walk). There is so much dancing in this movie that it frequently appears that the plot is intruding on it, and not the other way around. These are people who work a hard day's living dancing then go home and blow off some steam by, what else, dancing.

This isn't a poorly made movie in the traditional sense; it isn't full of continuity holes or bad special effects. For all its silliness, it probably succeeds in exactly the way it wanted to; as a movie about people who love breakdancing so much they'd rather do that than say, eat, sleep, converse, or share meaningful human contact. More than fifteen years later, it's terribly quaint, and hilariously dated. But it has a city-wide dance party, a hospital-wide dance party, a dance-filled climax (a shock, I know) and two performances by Ice-T. What more do you want? Do yourself a favor and rent this movie. By the end, you'll be dancing too.

Yeah the film is predictable, poorly acted, & the clothes.... well! yet this is exactly was the 80's was all about & why it was the best decade ever. I mean tell me, who didn't enjoy police academy, porkies, those silly troma films & all those ridiculous teenage slasher movies. & then we have the transformers, he-man, visionaries & the best cartoon ever made the THUNDERCATS.... HO! My point is basically the 80's was about having fun & was represented by film, TV & especially music... gap band, shalamar, earth, wind & fire... kool & the gang, & of course the greatest of them all MICHAEL JACKSON (yo' all know!) So in essence remember this film, & it should make you smile & remember just how great life is & how great it was growing up & living through all those silly movies & knight rider, street hawk, tj hooker, automan, airwolf etc & you all remember leg warmers & fluorescent socks & especially wearing shorts on top of your trousers (pants lol) & Mr T long live the A-Team & viva the 80's

Let me start by acknowledging that Breakin 2 (the sequel to 1984's Breakin, which was a box office hit) IS NOT a great movie. The acting is weak, the plot very "Andy Hardy," and the dialog, well let just say, it wouldn't have been any better if Golan/Globus would have gotten Denzel Washington and Meryl Streep to star in this film. That being said, let me now state that Breakin 2 IS NOT a "bad movie" either. It is what it is, mindless entertainment. The dancing, while not as riveting as it's predecessor, is enjoyable. The clothes (remember this is the 80's), well they're a laugh in themselves. The cast are all attractive (Lucinda Dickey looks hot as hell in this one, and check out Sonny Bono's sexy ex-wife Susie Coelho playing Kelly's rival).

The thinly written plot of Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo takes up where Breakin left off. Kelly (Dickey), Ozone (Aldolfo "Shabba Doo" Quinones) and Turbo (the phenomenal Michael "Boogalo Shrimp" Chambers have finished up what appears to have been a short run of their musical "Street People." Having gone their separate ways, Kelly is finding life in the chorus line a dead end. Unlike Ozone and Turbo, Kelly is not a product of the streets, and must also deal with her stereotypically written "rich parents," who want her to stop wasting her life dancing and go to Princeton. Needing a break from the lifestyle of the rich and famous, she goes to visit her "boyz in the hood" buds Ozone and Turbo, who seem to have found a better niche in life, teaching kids at a community center in East Los Angeles.

Enter bad guy real estate developer Mr. Douglas (character actor Peter MacLean), who wants to buy the land where the rec center sits and build a shopping mall. Kelly rejoins her ghetto comrades to stand against Douglas, and the city, who holds the lease on the building. The city does gives the trio one month to raise $150,000 to get the old center up to building standards or lose it to Douglas. How will they do it? How else, by putting on a street carnival (I told you this wasn't Pulp Fiction). Sub-plots include Kelly's racist parent attempting to bribe her by offering to bail out the center(only if she denounces her street friends and goes to college), and Kelly and Ozone's phantom romance (they never seriously kiss or get romantic in either film, which was the norm for interracial affairs in the 80's).

As stated earlier, where this movie shines is in the dancing. Ozone's rooftop number and Turbo's dancing on the ceiling are very enjoyable. The soundtrack wasn't as ripping as the original, but it's listenable without being annoying. The one other redeemable trait of Breakin 2, is it's attempt (no matter how lame an attempt) to portray a part of American culture that few people outside of major cities such as Los Angeles and New York knew anything about. In the eighties, you could count the number of minority themed films on one hand, so given it's very low budget, Breakin 2 at least served up a decent laugh and some head bobbin "make you smile" hoofin'.

Bottom line, if you're looking for Academy Award performances, solid acting, excellent writing and a thought provoking storyline, AVOID THIS FILM. However, if you want a look (albeit a somewhat watered down, white bread look) at a phenomenal eighties American fad called Break Dancing, check it out and enjoy the music and the dancing. That's all Golan/Globus was trying to make, and that's all this movie has to offer.

Nothing changed here. Story's still the same. People are still break dancing! This sequel was made within not even a full year after the original. Gotta love the 80's.

Rich girl Kelly Bennett is now a chorus dancer after the close of Street Jazz. She and Ozone are together and his ex Rhonda is jealous. Turbo falls for Latina dancer Lucia. Ozone and Turbo are teaching street dancing to the kids. Byron runs local community center Miracles where they hang out. Developer Douglas is trying to tear it down and build a shopping center. Sleazy minion Randall pushes the local government to tear it down. The dance trio defeats the Electros in a dance off. The community has to battle the developer to save their Miracles.

I don't remember Kelly having a rich family in the first movie. I guess it's possible that she was being independent working in that diner. It looks more like a manufactured class conflict between Kelly and her street life. This time around, the movie is asking more acting from the group and it's met with varying results. Kelly and Ozone have no real romantic chemistry. It double-downs on the first movie's little crush and the actors struggle to have any heat. It's cute to have love sick Turbo and he has one of the best upside down dance sequences ever. They recreate that shack so well that it's almost a perfect transition between the real world shack and the rotating one. The only truly awkward transition happens when Lucia walks into the room. She's stuck to the wall when Turbo is dancing upside down. This sequel is a cheesier effort highlighted by that one awesome dance sequence and a sequel title for the history books. Ice-T does return to do more rapping.