Director: Jon Chu
Run Time: 1 hrs. 37 min.
Rating: PG-13
The Bouw-Man.
To me, this shouldn’t even qualify as a movie. It’s bad enough that they’ve already made two of these films already, but now they want to make it a trilogy with no resemblance of the original other than a bunch of people dancing. They did the same with “The Fast and the Furious” series when they made “Tokyo Drift.” No Vin Diesel or Paul Walker, yet they used the brand name as an excuse to have guys and girls driving around in fast and flashy cars. The trailer lends nothing to the belief that there’s any resemblance of a proper plot or story with “Step Up 3.” Not that the people who actually go see films like these require one to fork over their money.
Some of my bitterness over the original “Step Up” film has to stem from it launching the career of one of Hollywood’s worst actors, Channing Tatum. This guy should not be the lead in anything, unless it’s a movie about “pretty boys” who can’t act or an advertisement for men’s body hair removal.
I have no problem with people dancing. It is a talent that I do not have, but I appreciate the hard work it takes to perform in front of an audience. However, isn’t it best suited to be experienced live and not on the big screen? Whether you want to do it personally or watch others dance, the excitement is formed by the energy of a live audience. I’m sure you can look in the local newspaper and find some sort of dance event taking place, even at the college and/or high school level. Let’s try this route first, instead of settling for “Step Up 3.”
Prediction.
All my bickering will have no effect on “Step Up 3,” and its likely successful run. The original made almost $21 million during its opening weekend, and the sequel made nearly $19 million. Let’s stay right on that trend, and predict another loss of $2 million this time around for number three. $17 million for “Step Up 3,” and let’s hope this will end the series.
Opening Weekend Gross: $17 Million
Noodles.
Why is it these dance movies all strike me as seeming very similar to one another?
1) Take one 19 year old white boy or girl
2) Make them from either an upper class family riddled with dysfunction or a poor to middle class family struggling to stay on the straight and narrow
3) Make it so that this young person is the most exceptionally skilled dancer in their neighborhood that isn't black or latino.
4) Remove said girl or boy from their socially accepting environment due to one of the major plot motivations; death, divorce, family trauma, etc.
5) Place them in a new town where they are the viewed as "other" until one of the "cool" kids sees that they can dance like one of the crew.
6) Now follows acceptance, albeit reluctant by some
7) Then of course the romance by the very guy or girl that first notices the new person's dance talents.
8) Add in some B-Story about a dance competition, or some other high stakes contest where our "hero" must show off some new move they have learned over the course of the film.
9) Cue victory for the good guys.
10) Credits.
Now I could be totally off the mark here as this is not my genre of choice, but based on the trailer I watched I feel as though the above insulting generalization of Step Up 3-D is accurate. It feels like every other dance movie that has come out in the last 15 years, except that this one is in 3-D.
Did dance movies really need to be put in 3-D where every other scene is someone doing an admittedly cool looking dance move directly into the camera. Its like that old Three Stooges 3-D short where you could feel like you were on the receiving end of one of Moe's eye gouges. Cool effect for the time...Not one of their best episodes.
Prediction.
All jokes aside these dance flicks have a pretty solid following, and let's face it they're not marketing to me. I think with the added gimmick of 3-D they may grab a few extra dollars but if its one thing that this summer has shown us, its that what has worked in the past is not guarantee for success today.
Opening Weekend: Gross: $17 Million
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