Step Up 3-D: (August 6th, 2010): PG-13
Distributor: Summit Entertainment
Opening Weekend Box-Office: #3 with $15,812,311
Domestic Box-Office Gross to-date: $29,844,422
Gross Revenue: $43,265,000
Budget: $30 million
Director: Jon Chu
From a marketing perspective, it was painfully obvious that the chief appeal for this latest entry in the Step Up franchise was the use of 3-D technology. Sure, the franchise had a decent enough following with its two previous offerings and the dance genre has been growing in popularity on the small screen, with several million viewers tuning in every week to watch Dancing with the Stars, So You Think You Can Dance?, and America’s Best Dance Crew, but if you’re not a fan of dance, this film had very little appeal. With a cast full of unknowns, the studio could not bank on star power to draw an audience, and that is why I think so much of the marketing campaign was geared towards the fact that the dance sequences would be presented in 3-D. Needless to say, I wasn’t going to be waiting in line to see Step Up 3-D, but I can appreciate a decent dance sequence, and I was intrigued to see how some of the more complicated maneuvers would appear in the 3-D format.
Set in the world of competitive dance, Step Up 3-D follows franchise characters Moose (Adam Sevani) and Camille Gage (Alyson Stoner) as they prepare to start college at New York University. Fans of the franchise will recognize Moose as a main character from Step Up 2: The Streets, while Camille featured in the first Step Up as the younger sister of Channing Tatum’s character. Almost as soon as he arrives on campus, Moose runs into Luke Katcher (Rick Malambri), a young filmmaker who leads a close-knit dance crew known as the House of Pirates. Luke and his crew are preparing for the annual World Jam dance contest that has a first prize of $100,000, which is more than enough to help all members of the crew settle their financial worries. As they train, Luke discovers the mysterious Natalie (the gorgeous Sharni Vinson), a talented dancer who soon evolves into a genuine love interest, all while contending with their main competition for the contest, the well-financed and arrogant House of Samurai. As these characters train and adapt to each other, they treat the audience to some truly astounding dance routines.
In attempt to justify why I enjoyed Step Up 3-D so much, I’m going to break from my traditional blog format and present the negative aspects of the film first, the biggest of which include the acting, dialogue, and narrative. Admittedly, my expectation for these criteria wasn’t very high to begin with, but the planning and execution of certain plot elements is so bad that I couldn’t help but laugh. I can accept the central plot of the importance of the main crew winning the big competition, but the level of intensity placed on dance is just a little too high to be taken seriously. Its one thing to be passionate about dance, but you can’t help but roll your eyes when Moose comes to the grand epiphany that “dance can change things” and subsequently approaches the college dean to declare a double major in engineering and dance, or when the House of Samurai corners him in a bathroom for a dance battle with the help of a guy who has a boom-box wired into his jacket. When it comes to acting, there’s enough chemistry between Luke and Natalie to make their romance believable, and the members of the House of Pirates are unique enough to become likable (despite a low level of character development), but the real problem comes whenever Moose begins to speak or the House of Pirates try and trash talk the House of Samurai. Adam Sevani is so unbelievably annoying as Moose that you can’t help but wish some sort of misfortune to befall him while he’s on screen; thank God he’s a good dancer, but it’s a genuine disappointment throughout the film when you realize that he’s going to stop dancing and start talking again. As for the competition between the Pirates and Samurai, the intensity and hatred these two factions and their leaders show towards each other often makes the audience feel like a gang war might erupt instead of a dance routine. Overall, what I have presented here is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of weak elements present in Step Up 3-D; the film might have been better served by just looping the dance routines together and editing out attempts to build characters or a story.
Now it’s time for parts of Step Up 3-D that I actually enjoyed, and understandably they all involved the dance routines that utilized 3-D effects. There were some simple dance sequences, but they were a little too spontaneous to be believable; the chief appeal involves the main three dance battles that comprise the World Jam dance competition. With some impressive acrobatics and complicated dance moves, each of the dance battles exploits a unique element for the benefit of 3-D, whether the dance floor is flooded so that the crews can incorporate splashing water into the routine, or each crew member wears a suit made of neon lights that change color continuously. Add these dance moves to a very modern and popular soundtrack (“Beggin” by Madcon might be my new favorite song), and Step Up 3-D builds an energy that audience can’t help but feed off of. In the end, this summer sequel more than delivered on exactly what it promised movie-goers, impressive 3-D dances, and though the execution wasn’t perfect, it was done with enough style to be enjoyable.
Opening up at #3 with just under $16 million, Step Up 3-D has performed surprisingly well, even in the face of significant competition at the box-office. Since it has already recovered more than half of its production budget in its opening weekend, I don’t think Summit Entertainment will have any trouble turning a profit, even with The Expendables and Scott Pilgrim opening this weekend. Though I doubt any of the actors within this sequel can expect a lucrative or sustainable career in Hollywood, Step Up 3-D is still an entertaining dance film that effective utilizes the 3-D format, but you have to approach it without any lofty expectations. And let’s face it; Hollywood has presented the movie-going public with far bigger disappointments during this summer season.
Overall Recommendation: Medium
