StreetDance 3D

Although the 3D elements did not add much of a dimension to the proceedings.... I found Streetdance... Energetic, Pulsating and a terrificly choreographed piece of cinematic entertainment - which will appeal to the "more mature audience" as well as its teen target market.

The storyline revolves around Carly (Nichola Burley) and her Streetdance crew, who have to contend with the loss of their Dance leader and also discover they have nowhere to rehearse. With time running out, Carly must win the respect of her dancing troupe and find a suitable place to train for the final of the UK Street Dance Competition. While delivering sandwiches to a local Ballet school, salvation and a glimmer of hope comes to Carly in the guise of the Ballet schoolmistress, Helena (played by Charlotte Rampling). She offers Carly the use of the school's facilities provided Carly agrees to instill some of the Streetdance intensity and passion into her lacklustre and classicly trained Ballet students. The result is a glorious clash of cultures, egos and temperaments.

The dance routines from Diversity & Flawless etc were perfectly executed and a joy to watch. And while it is not in the class of "Dirty Dancing", Streetdance's energetic footwork and the "ballet" cross-over storyline makes it standout from many of its contemporaries.

Yes, there are relationship issues (Love and Distrust) between the dancers, but it's the StreetDancing - which covers every style of dancing - that wins out in the end.

A cross-over section of the"young and not so young" preview audience were already asking when is Streetdance 2 being released. (need I say more?)

For a minute this looks like another American film that just can't wait to jump onto the 3D bandwagon, and taking along the teenage dance film fan demographic with them. But surprise, it's a British film, and the Brits can street dance just as well, going heads up with yet another upcoming American dance film continuing the Step Up franchise, also presented in 3D.

So is this new three dimensional format any good for this genre? There are a few moments and scenes here specifically crafted with 3D in mind, such as the tossing of items toward the screen, from hats to a busy food fight in a school canteen. There's also some jarringly added bullet-time choreography during one of the street dance battles in a club, but the real treat here is for that depth of field when we sit around and admire the precision-timed and energetic dance choreography from procedural balletic moves to raw, improvisational street dancing.

But this film does go the distance to explain and show the basics 101 of street dance, since it has characters from different camps put together to try and influence one another, and from their initial adversity come craft something unique from its diversity. All these thanks to Charlotte Rampling's Helena, a ballet teacher looking to infuse some spunk, energy and drive into her lethargic ballet students who are looking to impress some judges for entry into the prestigious Royal Academy of Dance.

At the opposite corner, we have a crew looking forward to their participation in the UL Street Dance Competition finals, only for their leader Jay (Ukwell Roach) handover the reins to his girlfriend Carly (Nichola Burley) who has to step up to the plate and assert her own leadership style in the crew's final lap to glory. To make matters worse, she has a lack of EQ with her teammates save for a few core supporters, and has to gather logistics from scratch, hence a marriage of strange bedfellows when she takes up Helena's offer.

Simply put, the story's very typical of dance films, with the usual themes of clashing of cultures, and to learn from each other's differences. Much like a Zero to Hero story with the usual cliché trappings involving romance, betrayal and friendship, with that dash of comedy, eye candy cast and of course, authentic street dancing moves unseen (at least to me) put on the big screen, made to come alive through 3D technology properly done. You'll come to expect that usual big bang finale where the fruits of the characters labour become the money making showpiece that the teenage crowd will line up for, and probably emulate, and it's not hard to see how this cannot go down that path of glory.

It's something that street dance enthusiasts, and they're growing by the numbers everyday, will embrace and flock to the cinemas for, and hey, the fusion of ballet and street dancing elements does pose an intriguing proposition. But after all, it's not about the techniques and styles used, but that of the human spirit of expression and perseverance, practice and camaraderie that ultimately soars above all. Recommended!

"Streetdance," to an extent, shares the same problem as other movies about dance. When the first dance movie (which was probably "Save the Last Dance) appeared, it seemed fresh and original not least of all because of the choreographed dance routines. But now the genre of dance films can do little more than repeat the same formula and the result is a bit tedious. Incidentally I had a similar reaction to the martial arts films. The first Karate Kid was great from beginning to end. But the spectacle and energy of these martial arts film soon faded and even the attempts to spice up the genre with explosions and shoot outs did not quite work.

So does "Streetdance" suffer from this trend? Yes. But does "Streetdance" also make up for this fact? To a surprising degree, it does. There is not too much to be said for the plot which is riddled with so many clichés, including the climatic little dance battle at the end, that it appeared to be recycled from the "Step Up" genre. Yet it is fresh in some respects. Nichola Burley, for example, brought something new to her performance as the head of the streetdance group Carly who also has to help ballet dancers bring some fire to their performances. Nichola is genuinely likable, sweet and fun all at the same time and these traitsallow her to get away with saying some very ridiculous grandstanding speeches like (I'm paraphrasing) we are going to combine ballet and street dance and "create something beautiful." If a lesser actor, like Amanda Seyfried, Megan Fox or even Kat Dennings, spoke like that, it would never seem believable. But Nichola miraculously makes scenes like that work. Nichola is also aided along the way by other likable characters like the implied love interest Tomas (Richard Winsor). Charlotte Rampling, who played one of the heads of ballet school Helena Fitzgerald, delivers the kind of great performance one would expect from someone with her calibre, even though she is unfortunately not given much to say or do. "Streetdance" also has some memorable scenes, such as the one where two street dancers pretending to be manniquins communicate with a little boy, who is also a great street dancer, through the medium of dance. Another memorable scene has Carly and her co-worker turning their mundane job of making sandwiches into a dance routine, which was kind of neat.

6.3/10

The plot was predictable with very few surprises, 'Step up style.' The acting was not particularly special and it occasionally reached quite low standards. Yet the movie as a whole still managed to be thoroughly enjoyable. The second half was much better than the first.The Dancing was fantastic from every aspect. All the characters were very skilled. Each dance was different and better than the previous one. This of course made the movie what it was.and the 3D effects were good fun. I was always a step up fan and thought nothing could compete with it but street dance managed to. It was much better than I expected and is definitely worth seeing.

Let's be honest, here. Nobody expects any real movie quality from a dance movie, except for beautiful and entertaining dance moves and a director who's skilled enough to shoot them adequately. Anybody complaining about the cheesiness of dialog or the non-existent plot is missing the point. Dance movies are cheesy by definition ("Dirty Dancing", anyone?), so the viewers must adopt a kind of "suspension of belief" and embrace what is being offered. Does anybody enjoy ballet or operas for their plot? Compared to an opera libretto, an episode of "Gossip Girl" is "Citizen Kane". "Streetdance" has the merit of presenting nice choreographies (especially the very interesting finale) accompanied by an enjoyable soundtrack, with also a bit of professional acting courtesy of Charlotte Rampling. The 3D effects offer a pleasant support to the dancers' efforts. It's an honest movie. It doesn't promise anything more than what it is.