‘TOPS IN HIP HOP”
Starring: Rick Malambri, Sharni Vinson, Adam G. Sevani, Alyson Stoner, Harry Shum Jr. and Joe Slaughter
Directed by: Jon Chu
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for brief strong language.
Genre: Drama, Musical/Performing Arts, Sequel and Dance
Running time: 1 hr. 37 min
Release Date: August 6th, 2010
Studio: Touchstone Pictures
By John Delia
Wow! Step Up 3D takes dance to a higher level through three-dimension cinematography with explosive eye-popping dance routines. Tweens to Twenties will get the most out of the film, especially if dance and music fuels your fire.
The film has the usual boy meets girl, they fall in love and a Romeo and Juliet romance begins. But let me fill you in a little more; in the story we find Moose (Sharni Vinson) and Camille (Alyson Stoner) both characters (and original actors) from Step Up 2 arriving at NYU for their first year looking to further their education. Walking across campus Moose finds himself dueling with a member of the street dancing team House of Samurai and wins, this puts Moose in a dilemma challenged as to what path he wants to take, school or dance. When Luke (Rick Malambri), the leader of rival team The Pirates, gets his hooks into Moose he makes him a part of his dance squad. From this point on it’s a battle for bragging rights and $100,000.
Dance and music drive this film with the chorography by Jamal Sims, Nadine Ruffin, Dave Scott, Richmond Talauega and Anthony Talauega and music by Bear McCreary. Dazzeling acrobatics make up most of the themed dances while individual standouts take the floor facing equal opponents during the ‘battle’ scenes. Kicking up the beat the soundtrack includes the music of T-Pan, Jay-Z featuring Alicia Keys, K’naan, Chromeo, Mims, Jesse McCartney, ELECTRIXX, Tania Doko, J. Randall, Busta Rhymes and so many others that would fill this whole article. The sounds are hip and in tune with the dancing
The direction by Chu who was the master behind Step Up 2 is good with reservation. Keeping the chorographers to their task he looses track of the acting by his stars. Low-grade performances in the
acting department dull the film’s potential for greatness, but most of the audience for this genre will never notice. Especially because the young tween girls, who will be enamored by the hot boy bods, will probably never hear a word of dialogue.
The film is rated PG-13 for brief strong language. Of course there are copious amounts of suggestive dance moves by both sexes that may be a little much for the immature.
FINAL ANALYSIS: A standout for hip hop fans. (3.5 of 5)