Technical assessment: 3 Moral
assessment: 3
CINEMA rating: V14 MTRCB rating:
PG
A squabble over financial
issues leads to a split up between Sean (Ryan Guzman) and the dancing group
Mob. The group returns to Florida
while Sean is left alone to slug it out in Los Angeles, applying for a job in a
dance hall owned by the immigrant parents of his friend Moose (Adam
Sevani). Humiliated that the job
he gets is not as a dancer but as a janitor, he has no choice but to take it,
burdened with a long overdue rent.
Soon he learns about The Vortex, a dance contest in Las Vegas hosted by
Alexxa Brava (Isabella Miko), and wastes no time putting together a dance
group, determined to compete, especially as the winning group will get a
three-year contract in Las Vegas as prize. In the contest, Sean finds his new group competing not only
with the formidable Grim Knights but also with his ex-crew, the Mob.
Moviegoers who come to see Step Up All In for the dance move—and
not for a psychological insight into young dancers aspiring to leave their mark
in a ruthless industry—will not be disappointed because the plot, trite and
even more predictable than the series’ four predecessors, is all but
overshadowed by the spectacular dance numbers. Director Sie—music video director and former competitive
ballroom dancer—made sure her team of three choreographers delivers the clever
and eye-popping fresh moves to inspire the young moviegoers with a yen for
dance contests. If the thin plot
and the matching acting seem like a cure for insomnia, the 3D dances are like
caffeine consumed intravenously.
This is not to say that Step Up All In is totally bereft of a
redeeming message. Determination
is one value that is emphasized, particularly for talented young people facing
all sorts of difficulties. The
movie is strong on pursuing one’s dream at all cost, including humbling oneself
and taking on menial jobs in the hope of being in the right place at the right
time in order to turn dreams into reality. Admirable, too, is the new realization among the dancers that
winning the competition is not the end all and be all of dancing, and that
developing the art is a most worthy motive.
