I really want to give this movie an eight or nine, but I wouldn't be able to look myself in the mirror in the morning. First, let me say that this is not meant to be any type of indictment of the young ballerinas in the movie. Their dancing was the highlight of the movie and their heart is what kept the movie afloat. But in the meantime, the adults fumbled their way through the movie, rattling of "jokes" that were so unfunny, you questioned whether they were meant to be one. ("Was that supposed to be a joke? Or did I just miss something?)
The movie has its customary mean girls who predictably start off rotten and end up not so rotten. And it's Devil wearing prada, who starts off the movie with the harsh strictness of a Nazi and ends up at the end a little not so strict. Most baffling is that these transformations (which usually occur with nothing more than a single line) appear suddenly with seemingly almost no forethought.
Again, the girls (ballerinas) in this were all wonderful and should not be blamed for an uninspiring and unoriginal story. They didn't write this crap, after all. However, if you do love ballet, the dancing is wonderful! If you suffer through the first half, you'll be treated to some good dancing in the second. Turn off your cynicism for a moment and you might be able to even enjoy it -- but that's only if you like ballet to begin with.
All in all, I feel you'd have to be Hitler to utterly despise this movie with the adorable young cast and the heart they put into this. On the other hand, you'd have to not seen a single movie in your life to think the plot was either compelling or unique. Two stars is too harsh. Five stars is pandering. I land somewhere between 3 and 4.
