Sevani, who looks and sounds just the slightest bit like a young, white Michael Jackson, has the most distinctive presence among the leads, but there doesn’t appear to have been anyone around to help him shape a real character. It doesn’t demand much of the mostly anonymous cast Mr.
The perfunctory narrative, involving the central crew’s efforts to save its sprawling studio-club-crash pad, is just an excuse for a series of dance showdowns it functions less as a story than as a catalog of references meant to interest a young audience: mixed martial arts, parkour, X-games, Red Hook, Chinatown, D.I.Y.
Camille, a character in the original “Step Up,” and Moose, from “Step Up 2,” arrive in New York for college and are swept into the film’s fairy-tale world of warring hip-hop dance crews and vast downtown lofts, a vision seemingly stitched together from “Wild Style,” “Babes in Arms” (“Let’s put on a show!”) and 1940s boxing movies. Chu, who directed “Step Up 2: The Streets,” and the writers Amy Andelson and Emily Meyer have moved the story to New York from Baltimore, the setting of the first two films in the series. (Sometimes the outcome of a “battle” matters to the plot, but the winners are always preordained.)įor real excitement and emotion you’d be better off watching “America’s Best Dance Crew” on MTV.com, where there’s less corny dialogue and hokey contrivance to get in the way of the moves. The dancers may be skilled, but their work has no meaning in terms of the story - it’s pure spectacle, and numbingly repetitive spectacle at that. The rest of the film is business as usual, which means that every 20 minutes or so it grinds to a halt for another overproduced dance-crew routine. Sevani) and Camille (Alyson Stoner) a few steps further. That’s not because of the choreography, which is ho-hum, but because for a few moments the dancing helps tell the story, taking the tentative romance of Moose (Adam G. Set to a remix of Fred Astaire’s version of “I Won’t Dance,” blaring from an ice cream truck’s loudspeaker, it’s the film’s most conspicuous attempt to ride Astaire’s coattails and is its only memorable dance. This new association brings up a few conflicts within Andie, as her new dance crew tries to gain respect on the streets, especially among her old and judgmental friends, and as she and the crew try to hide the fact of what they're doing from Blake, who ultimately threatens expulsion from the school of anyone participating in the illegal street competitions.Partway through “Step Up 3D” there’s a number unlike anything else in the movie. Chase feels like he's one of those misfits being Blake's brother and living in his shadow. those that don't conform to Blake's way of thinking. Chase Collins, a dance student at MSA, convinces Andie to start her own street dance crew using all the dance misfits from MSA i.e. After learning that Andie's absences from rehearsals are due to her new association with MSA, Tuck kicks her out of the 410. Blake is a brilliant dancer but looks for conformity to his way. The school's director, Blake Collins, isn't sure she fits in there either. Andie passes the audition but isn't sure she fits in there.
Andie's neighborhood friend, Tyler Gage, convinces Andie to audition for entry into the Maryland School of the Arts (MSA), an institution which ended up turning his life around for the better. Sarah threatens to send Andie to live with relatives in Texas unless she cleans up her act, which includes ending her association with the 410 and trying harder at school. The 410 are the most notorious of the street crews in Baltimore and are wanted by the police for their acts of vandalism and public mischief. The only thing she loves is dancing with her street crew, the 410, led by Tuck. Andie, who doesn't care about school, is trying to figure out where she fits in in life.
Following the death of her parents, teen-aged Andie West is living with her mother's best friend, Sarah.