Just a fun teen film (Bring It On (DVD))

Name: lorraryall

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Product:	Bring It On (DVD)
Date:	01/08/03 (247 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cool dance routines, Good teen film, Lots of good looking stars

Disadvantages: Lack of "serious" plot

Let's face it, no one is going to have massive expectations when they watch this film. No one will expect in-depth and emotional plot lines which demonstrate the reality of teen life in america today. So I dont feel the need to spend time complaining because this film doesn't have any of these things. It doesn't claim to have any of these features, it does exactly what it says on the tin...it entertains.

The cover of the DVD shows two of the main stars Kirsten Dunst and Gabrielle Union, dancing around scantily clad and trying to look particularly sexy. That image pretty much sums up the film, there's no deep meaning behind it, there's no intensity. It simply tries to be entertaining, and loads of fun, and if you ask me it really achieves this.

THE PLOT
The film focusses on the character of Torrance, in her last year of high school she's going through all the same things that most teenage girls do. Her boyfriend has just gone off to college, she's applying to college herself and she's wondering if she'll be picked as the new captain of the cheerleading squad.
Inevitably she is the new captain, and so begins her job of taking the squad to the national championships which they have won for the past five years. As we can all imagine this isn't going to run as smoothly as it did with the old captain.
Torrance has to find a new cheerleader to join the squad, following an injury, and it is this new cheerleader who points out that all of the squad's routines are copied from another squad. Shock horror! AND she's also dealing with her attraction to her friends brother. Torrance is given the huge task of trying to create a whole new routine and prepare her squad for the championship, will she manage it in time or will the Toro's lose the trophy for the first time in 6 years?


THE CAST
The majority of the cast are made up of unknown actresses playing energetic and flexible cheer
leaders, but there are a small number that deserve a particular mention for their efforts.

Kirsten Dunst - Star of films such as "Interview with the vampire" and "Spider-man", Kirsten is well established in the film industry, and is a definite up and coming actress. She takes the lead role in the film, playing Torrance the newly appointed captain. She does a good job really, but that's no surprise as she is a pretty good actress, she plays annoying blond bimbo's surprisingly well.

Eliza Dushku - Her most famous role was as Faith in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", but she has starred in a number of lesser known films, recently taking a lead role in "Wrong Turn". In Bring it on, she plays the new girl in town who tries out for the cheerleading team, and much to the dismay of several of the squad Torrance gives her the job. She creates a pretty impressive "not your typical cheerleader" character, but I didn't find myself particularly warming to her in the way I think we're supposed to.

Gabrielle Union - She plays the captain of the Clovers cheerleading squad. With her main role being too act kind of scary, but also maintaining the ability to look good as a cheerleader, and she did well! She has less onscreen time than several of the other characters, but you can kind of understand her character, and she is quite believable.

Jesse Bradford - Playing Torrance's main love interest in the film, he is definitely one of the up points of the film. Very good looking with a distinctive role in the comedic element of the film. He definitely puts in the best acting performance of all the cast.


DVD FEATURES
As with any DVD the attempt to include something extra special is clear. When you load up the DVD you are given the options to watch the film or look at the extras. And these are all shown in a kind of scoreboardy type way, in order to relate to the film. It&
#39;s alright but nothing to be particularly impressed with.
There are 8 supposed "extra's" which are:
The Trailer
Spotlight on Location
Make-up and Wardrobe TEsts
Music Video
Blaque "As If"
Extended and Deleted Scenes
Easter Egg

Altogether providing 45 minutes of exciting extra stuff for you to watch. But in all honesty I wouldn't bother, they're just put in there to try and get you to buy the DVD and there's nothing in there that is worth bothering about.
The best additional feature was probably the deleted scenes, as it's always interesting to see what they kept back from you. However even this is invaded by random directors comments, although intriguing at times it does get a bit boring after a while. It's also concerning that he spent that much time thinking about which scenes to include in which order, when it's basically the short skirts and dance routines that sell the film.


GOOD BITS
Well basically it's just a happy and fun teen film. Try not to have too many expectations and you will really enjoy this film, just try not to take it too seriously. There are some good acting performances from some relatively unknown stars.
Another good point, is just the dance routines. They are pretty cool, even if they are slightly over the top that is the reason most of us watch the film. And the music and dance routines are definitely one of the best parts of the film, lots of fun.
And lads I'm sure will also enjoy lots of young actresses running around it tiny cheerleading outfits, but fear not girls as Torrance's love interest is very good looking if you ask me.


BAD BITS
Besides the obvious lack of interesting plot, and slightly predictable story line there aren't really that many bad points.
There is no option for alternative languages in the film, or subtitles which may come as a bit of a letdown to many, as it
came as a sort of default feature of DVD's.


GENERAL THOUGHTS
If you're looking for a fun teen film then this is definitely a good choice. Not one for people who require any sort of mental stimulation, but I would've thought that's clear from the start. It's going to appeal mostly to teen girls I would've thought, the kind of people who like films like Grease and 10 Things I hate about you.
Definitely gets a bad vote from anyone over 25 and male, I am frequently told that's it's no good. But taken at face value it is a good film, the DVD doesn't offer anything exciting so don't keep your fingers crossed for that either, but it's alright in the end. Shall we say 7/10.

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