Never follow (Take The Lead (DVD))

Member Name: aylawarner

Product:	Take The Lead (DVD)
Date:	17/09/09 (78 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Banderas, the mix of ballroom dancing and hip-hop, overcoming real life struggles

Disadvantages: None

Based on a true story, ballroom dancer, Pierre Dulaine, offers to spend his time teaching troubled teenagers from a public school in New York to dance, after witnessing one of them vandalising a car. But his efforts are only met with laughter and ridicule, as the students show prejudice to Dulaine's background and status, which is so different to theirs. But Dulaine's constant struggle and commitment to the group of kids eventually wins over, and they begin to enjoy their lessons. The new style of dance, which they manage to mix with their own style of hip-hop, is just one of the things they will learn, as well as pride, respect, self-esteem and honour.

~ Cast ~
Pierre Dulaine - Antonio Banderas
Rock - Rob Brown
LaRhette - Yaya DaCosta
Augustine James - Alfre Woodard
Ramos - Dante Basco
Danjou - Elijah Kelley
Sasha - Jenna Dewan
Eddie - Marcus T. Paulk
Kurd - Jonathan Malen
Caitlin - Lauren Collins
Monster - Brandon D. Andrews
Egypt - Jasika Nicole
Big Girl - Shawand McKenzie

I've wanted to see this for ages as I used to do many types of dancing including ballroom and so I love any dancing film. But I only actually got around to eventually seeing it when its preview was on TV recently.

Take the Lead has a similar style of plot to that which has been done in many other movies such as Coach Carter, where an unlikely person goes in to help a group of teenagers who seem like they have nothing in common, and both end up learning a lot in the process.

The film, which is based on a true story, tackles many true life issues including the struggles of families and teenagers living in the slums and having to deal with problems such as drugs, gang wars, violence, poor education and lack of money. The contrast of these kids' lives were shown up against the wealthy and good quality lives of those who are able to afford ballroom dancing lessons and who look down their noses at those less well-off than them. Although not directly, racism is also brought into the film, as the majority of the troubled teenagers are black and Hispanic, whereas the better-off children are all white. The film puts the viewers firmly on the side of the struggling kids as, although they can be violent, rude and disrespectful, this is only how they have had to learn to be and they are actually all good kids who have a lot of difficult problems to deal with. The teenagers on the upper side of town, seem to look down on the students and regard themselves as better than them, which makes them seem ignorant and disrespectful themselves.

The very beginning of the film starts off jumping from scenes of a formal and posh ballroom dancing show to scenes of less well-off teenagers dancing in a nightclub. This happened quite a bit throughout the film, and the mixing of the two different types of people and the two different types of dancing, was done really well with the way the old-fashioned slow music somehow turned into up-to-date rap and hip-hop and this made you get a really good feel for both styles of dancing and the people who took part in them.

Antonio Banderas was the perfect casting for the main character of Pierre Dulaine as he brought style, sophistication and sexiness to his role as well as a very friendly and optimistic personality. The rest of the supporting cast were all brilliant, each with their own problems to deal with, but many of who still managed to have some fun and bring some humour to the screen.

If dancing isn't your thing, don't be turned off by this, as, although yes the film is about dancing, but the main plot is about the struggles and issues that teenagers face and overcoming them. The dancing factor just adds a bit of spice and excitement and is a way for the kids to connect. This is one of the best dancing movies that I've seen, if not the best, and, despite the problems every character is faced with, it is still a feel-good film that will have you smiling, laughing and definitely dancing along.

Running time: 108 minutes
Certificate rating: 12A
Director: Liz Friedlander

Summary: A ballroom dancer struggles to teach a group of troubled teenagers to dance