So you might wonder if a film about dancers attempting to succeed might make a statement about losing the joy of the dance in the flurry of competition.
You might also wonder if to get an attractive group of dancers to play the parts, this movie may not have used acting strength as the final casting arbiter.
You might further go on to ponder whether it will have pushy stage mothers, back-stage crushes, brushes with failure, catty exchanges, tragic injuries, demanding teachers and happy endings with valuable lessons learned.
Regarding this film: Yes it does.
A film clearly dreamt up to showcase the natural lessons of life that talented young people must learn, the script unfolds with the narrative pacing of a Sweet Valley Twins book.
Characters are established in their first minute of screen time and never show any real breathtaking leaps in development. The only character who appears believable, the star pupil who is destined for greatness falls apart just towards the end though at least makes what is probably a healthy if somewhat unrealistic choice at the story's end. The other characters are one-note and simplistic; each advancing a thematic element on their own while supporting and fleshing out the other characters not at all.
On the positive side there is some good dancing in this film but the high-energy scenes lack the spontaneous punch and fire of better dance films, and that is a sort of critical element in this reviewer's opinion. The huge breakthrough number at the end was just a bit anti-climactic.
Reserved for the high school age dancers set only. For most others the film will provide no real insight or surprise and not even amazing enough dancing to pull the ratio up.
You might also wonder if to get an attractive group of dancers to play the parts, this movie may not have used acting strength as the final casting arbiter.
You might further go on to ponder whether it will have pushy stage mothers, back-stage crushes, brushes with failure, catty exchanges, tragic injuries, demanding teachers and happy endings with valuable lessons learned.
Regarding this film: Yes it does.
A film clearly dreamt up to showcase the natural lessons of life that talented young people must learn, the script unfolds with the narrative pacing of a Sweet Valley Twins book.
Characters are established in their first minute of screen time and never show any real breathtaking leaps in development. The only character who appears believable, the star pupil who is destined for greatness falls apart just towards the end though at least makes what is probably a healthy if somewhat unrealistic choice at the story's end. The other characters are one-note and simplistic; each advancing a thematic element on their own while supporting and fleshing out the other characters not at all.
On the positive side there is some good dancing in this film but the high-energy scenes lack the spontaneous punch and fire of better dance films, and that is a sort of critical element in this reviewer's opinion. The huge breakthrough number at the end was just a bit anti-climactic.
Reserved for the high school age dancers set only. For most others the film will provide no real insight or surprise and not even amazing enough dancing to pull the ratio up.