Step Up 2 the Streets

Providing you’re not hip-hop- or cliche-averse, see Step Up 2 the Streets with the right expectations and you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Step Up 2 the Streets isn't nearly as entertaining as it is predictable, but that's not half bad considering anyone who has seen Bring it On or even Flashdance probably could list the major plot points in 2.5 seconds.

What could have been mindless formulaic fluff for an audience of recent High School Musical grads winds up mindless formulaic fluff with enough booty-shaking charm to qualify as a great guilty pleasure.

In a sequel that features the original's Channing Tatum only in cameo, a Baltimore teen enrolls at an arts academy, leaving her street-dancing pals behind. So far, ho hum.

There’s something inherently pleasurable about these simple-minded dance movies. Just be thankful this isn’t called Step Up 2: Electric Boogaloo. Then you know you’d be in trouble.

All that matters is that director Jon M. Chu and his choreographers turn Step Up 2 into an explosive mash-up of break-dancing, stepping and acrobatics set to an addictive soundtrack of hip-hop artistry.

The dancing in Step Up 2 the Streets is stunning -- graceful, emotional, aggressive and sexually charged. It's only when the actors stop to speak that it stumbles.

Step Up 2 the Streets scores some serious points for its dance moves but does a lousy job of remembering there's a lot more to this big old world than moving your feet.

If you're down for some dope moves, you might dig this. But if you're jonesing for a tight story, you'll be hating.

With its choreographed romance, disapproving authority figures and inspirational slogans about going for your dream, the script is as creaky as an arthritic hip.

Give the new movie some credit for being a lot more fun than its namesake: more memorable dances, less forced drama, and an occasional snappy line.

Don’t let the haters fool you; Step Up 2 is thoroughly engaging fare.

The current glut of dance-happy trifles is introducing a new generation to the magic of dance-movie clichés.

Step Up 2 the Streets is a movie that delivers what it promises: a great soundtrack, hot choreography and little more.

Step Up 2 the Streets has an instant-messenger title, a text-message story, and camera-phone cinematography. Some people won't know whether to watch it or hold it up to their ear.

Step Up 2 the Streets doesn't really satisfy either as a dance movie or a real one, but at least it seems to know for the most part what it is and embraces that.

Director Jon Chu guides his actors smoothly through the formulaic script, but his greatest asset is knowing how to shoot dance scenes to full effect.

Step Up 2, for all of its ragin' dance moves and rebellious talk, is high-spirited and harmless. An MC at one dance contest declares, "This ain't High School Musical!" Oh, but it is.

The characters are drawn like cardboard cutouts, the lessons are not novel and you can predict the outcome from the get-go.

Most movies are about plot, character, direction, dialogue -- the building blocks of cinematic storytelling. Some are just about pretty people dancing. Surprising no one, Step Up 2 falls into the latter category.

First-time director Jon M. Chu, himself a former dancer, doesn't try to do much with a script that rehashes every dance-movie cliché, with people getting served, bringing it on and stomping yards.

The musical numbers are plentiful, and they help divert you from a plot riddled with holes.

When a film like Step Up becomes a cash cow and a studio (here, Disney) takes a more vested interest in the making of its sequel, the result feels tamed.

Less a sequel than a variation on a theme, this follow-up to the popular dance romance pits high-spirited street steppers against the snooty, uptight guardians of high culture.

Step Up 2 the Streets is all about impressing us with its fancy footwork. But the dance scenes feel like a diversion, since the story, acting and dialogue are sadly lacking in originality and substance.

The performances in Step Up 2 the Streets will look just about right to anyone who thinks of film as television, only bigger.

The filmmakers hardly miss a cliché along the way, which wouldn't be so bad if the dance sequences were more convincing, but for the most part they're put together with smoke and mirrors.

We've barely cooled our heels over How She Move. Now it's time to Step Up 2 the Streets? They're the same movie, at least in terms of story arc.

On its way to a cornball ending, Step Up 2 does have some eye-popping dance movements.

"It's not where you're from, it's where you're at" is this movie's tagline. Step Up 2 the Streets is at nowhere.

For all that Step Up 2 the Streets feels like an extended episode of the reality dance show So You Think You Can Dance, it reeks of artificiality and phoney emotion. Even the dancing looks as if it was computer-generated.

Hollywood’s latest exercise in redemption through midriff-baring and hip-hop cross-marketing.