Review: StreetDance 2

The British purveyors of StreetDance 2 brought you its successful predecessor, StreetDance 3D, in 2010. Just as dance is built on formulas and repeated steps, the sequel follows a familiar format and storyline: The protagonist wants to win a dance competition. Cue dancing. He falls in love. Cue dancing. He can't make it to the finals. In the end, he triumphs. Cue awesome dancing. If you're a dance fan, suspend judgment and go for a whirl. Otherwise, I'd sit it out.

Starring: George Sampson, Sofia Boutella and Falk Hentschel

Rating: One and a half stars out of five

You've seen these moves before.
The British purveyors of StreetDance 2 brought you its successful predecessor, StreetDance 3D, in 2010. Just as dance is built on formulas and repeated steps, the sequel follows a familiar format and storyline: The protagonist wants to win a dance competition. Cue dancing. He falls in love. Cue dancing. He can't make it to the finals. In the end, he triumphs. Cue awesome dancing.
The protagonist in this case is Ash, played by American Falk Hentschel, who recently grappled with Tom Cruise on a train in Knight and Day and tried to escape to Mexico with Justin Bieber on an episode of CSI.
Ash falls on his face trying to out-do the reigning dance crew, Invincible (any group with that kind of name is just asking to be tested). So to redeem himself, he and his manager Eddie (Britain's Got Talent winner George Sampson, reprising his role from the first film) criss-cross Europe, curating the streets for talent. They apparently have ample travel funds but limited time: eight weeks -- or 90 minutes -- to put together a crew to take on Invincible in the film's big finale.
Within 10 minutes, Ash and Eddie have convinced about a dozen b-boys and b-girls to converge in Paris. While their names flash onscreen, you subsequently forget them, because they're not actually characters (characters have personalities and backstories), they're dancers. They pop and lock and pose. For example, when Ash introduces his multicultural crew, they've lined up against a bar in perfect symmetry with pursed lips, crossed arms and crooked fedoras. This is what their album cover would look like.
The one dancer that audiences won't forget, because she is the best thing going for this movie, is Eva. Algeria-born, Paris-raised Sofia Boutella plays the fiery salsa dancer that Ash hopes will give his crew the winning edge. Boutella, a hip-hop dancer, performed with Madonna and is a Nike spokeswoman. Her presence requires no 3-D.
Next to Eva, Ash is about as hot-blooded as sea bass, which makes their love affair unconvincing. (Eva has more chemistry with veteran screen and stage actor Tom Conti, who appears as her uncle.) Salsa and street dance, however, is a natural mash-up, since salsa originated in the streets and Eva's underground Latin club is as urban and gritty as any abandoned warehouse or parking lot.
The first film combined ballet dancers with hip-hoppers, which created a fun and gimmicky contrast. But when trying to one-up another dancer, nothing is showier than a salsa dancer wearing a girl around his waist like she's a human hula hoop.
The talent of the dancers is undeniable, and the Latin routines by Cuban choreographer Maykel Fonts and the hip-hop sequences by Rich and Tone Talauega are remarkably entertaining. The Talauega brothers, whose clients include Madonna, Chris Brown and Jennifer Lopez, recently worked on Cirque du Soleil's Michael Jackson The Immortal World Tour.
If you're a dance fan, suspend judgment and go for a whirl. Otherwise, I'd sit it out.

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