Step Up 3-D: Great moves but poor plot

Rating: 2 out of 5*

Starring: Rick Malambri, Alyson Stoner, Sharni Vinson and Joe Slaughter

Director: John Chu

September 4, 2010 (Sampurn Wire): Pretty-boy Luke (Rick Malambri) leads a dance crew and, as an amateur filmmaker, is quietly working on a documentary about dancers and their craft. He also has a problem: Unless he can raise the cash to make the mortgage payments, his dancers' commune/rehearsal space will be gone. Enter scrawny yet lovable Moose (Adam G. Sevani, reprising his role from the second "Step Up" movie), a Baltimore native who with his adorable best friend Camille (Alyson Stoner, from the first "Step Up") has moved to New York City. After Moose wins an impromptu dance-off with a member of a rival dance crew, Luke recruits Moose and Natalie (Sharni Vinson), another dancer new to town, with hopes that the two will win a street dancing competition - and with it, the cash prize that could keep his operation afloat.

Sevani and Stoner make a dynamic pair, and they completely stick the landing with a crowd-pleasing number set to the Fred Astaire classic "I Won't Dance," shot in a single take along a city block. And the pairing of Malambri and Vinson yields some pretty nice dividends, thanks in large part to the spunk she provides.

All the film's drive and momentum comes from the impressive dance sequences, finely crafted by Jamal Sims and "Hi Hat" Ruffin -- who both also choreographed the first two installments of the series. But like a movie musical, the film screeches to a grinding halt every time the dancing stops. As a scripted feature film, Step Up 3D is a tantalizingly frustrating experience. The dance scenes are highly energetic and truly fascinating to watch. There's no questioning the athleticism of the performers, including Alyson Stoner as Moose's childhood friend who accompanies him to NYU, and Aussie Sharni Vinson who plays the love interest opposite Malambri. But the 3D gadgetry (which the filmmakers proudly proclaim as the first time to be used in a dance film) is a needless distraction. Another of the film's problems is the fact that we can't really tell who is winning these dance-off battles as the audience is primarily left to the mercy of judges and scoreboards to tell us who is good and who is bad. However, we're just not knowledgeable about this sport, nor do we care enough about the characters, to worry about the outcome. 8 Mile suffered from the same flaws, but at least that film scored bigger points with its grit and style.

Step Up 3D is almost a complete waste of brilliant young dancing talent and energetic performances. The anemic script and stilted dialogue are laughable at times, and the acting ranges from poor to non-existent. But we also understand it's not about the acting. It's about dancing. And this style of dance (despite its overabundance of offensive gesticulations and aggressive posturing) most assuredly has a place in this world. Unfortunately, that place is not in a scripted movie at the hands of this stable of filmmakers.

-- Sampurn Wire