Did not Step Up to the Mark (Step Up (DVD))

Member Name: sewbizzie

Product:	Step Up (DVD)
Date:	28/10/09 (66 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good dancing

Disadvantages: Average acting, predictable storyline

Tyler gage is a teenager who is from the rundown end of Baltimore. He lives in a foster home and makes a living steeling cars with his two close friends. Tyler and his friends love to dance and it is on one of the nights when they are thrown out of a party after Tyler danced with someone girlfriends that he lands himself in trouble. Tyler, Skinny and Mac end up breaking into the School for Performing Arts and wreaking havoc and as a result Tyler is given 200 hours community service which he must do working in the school.


It is at this school doing his community service where he meets Nora, a very well to do girl who is a classical dancer and is working towards a showcase in the hope that she will be accepted by a Dance Company. Nora is stuck as she has lost her dance partner and it is not long before Tyler offers to step in. Nora has to clear it with the head teacher but soon Tyler is showing Nora that he can actually dance.

There is some chemistry between Tyler and Nora but will he be able to convince her to put some modern moves into her routine to make it more appealing and just will Tyler last the distance or will he give up the dancing along with everything else in his life? How will Tyler's friends react when they find him dancing in the posh school with a very posh girl?

I was not expecting too much from this film and I have to say that it was a good job as the story was very average and so too was the acting. I had easily worked out the ending of the film after watching the first half an hour and I can honestly say that this is just how the film ended. For me I was not too bothered as it meat that I did not have to concentrate much on what was going on. I have to say that Channing Tatum who took the role of Tyler was excellent and he bought a lot to the film. He was an amazing dancer but at times I got a little lost with some of the modern stuff he was doing and found it to look very strange. He did have a good on screen chemistry at times with Jenna Dewan who played the role of Nora but this was about as good as the acting got.

Jenna at times seemed very wooden on screen and to me she only got the role as she was a great classical dancer. She did try with the script but at times she was just lacking in screen presence. I think that the supporting actors did do a decent job with the roles they were given but I just feel that they could have been involved slightly more and made a little more impact on the storyline.

The music in the film was quite mixed, we would have the up beat hip hop music which Tyler and his friends would be dancing to in their parties and then we would move to the classic music which was being played in the school. I did find that the diversity worked well with the story and none of it seemed out of place. The dancing was probably the best bit of the film and at times it really did engage me but this really is the only thing which made me sit up and pay any interest in this film.

The film was set in Baltimore in the present time so not much effort was needed with the sets of costumes and I think they all worked well. I liked the contrast between the run down area which Tyler and his friends lived in to the more up market area which Nora lived in. This helped show the different backgrounds of the characters.

The DVD which I have does not have any bonus features which for me was no great shame as I would not have taken the time to watch them anyway as the film did not make a big impact on me. The running time of this film is 1 hour and 39 minutes which I found to be quite enough and the certificate is a PG, there is some mild violence and sex references but nothing which would offend.

Over all I am going to recommend this film as long as you do not expect too much and you are happy with a predictable ending. It is available to buy in Tesco for just £3 which I felt to be a very fair price.

Summary: Tyler must Step Up and prove he can dance to help Nora