If Step Up 2 The Streets were a candy, it would be a Gobstopper. Not an ordinary Gobstopper-with each flavor shell tasting great-but a Gobstopper with alternating shells of delectable apple (bottom jeans, minus the boots with fur) and rotten cheese.
Andie West (Briana Evigan) is a Baltimore-raised white girl who has loved street dancing ever since her mom took her to her first jam session, where people moved "like they were from another planet." After her mother dies from non-dance-related cancer, Andie brushes off school to pull subway pranks with her dance crew, 410, the kings of the underground Baltimore dance scene for the last five years. However, her hooky-playing days might come to an end unless she shapes up academically, according to her mom's best friend who acts as Andie's guardian.
From here on, Step Up 2 pulls out all the formulaic tricks of the dance film. Andie miraculously gets into Maryland School of the Arts, despite having her street style mocked by most of the stuck-up panel she auditions for. Unfortunately for Andie, 410 disapproves of school ("410 don't come second to nobody") and kicks her out.
At her new schmancy-pants institution, Andie meets and flirts with the popular, trust-fund, oh-so-talented-prince-of-the-school Chase Collins (Robert Hoffman) and the two quickly start up their own crew to battle against 410 in the underground competition. The crew is full of MSA misfits, most notably the geeky Moose (Adam G. Sevani), who is at the school for light design but of course can moonwalk better than Michael Jackson.
The plot has about as many clichés as Baltimore has drug dealers, and there are some truly painful motivational speeches. Yet, the film entertains when the characters shut their mouths and move their feet. The dance scenes are both energizing and stylistically diverse, and the film's climax-the MSA crew's performance in the rain-is a wonder to behold.
It might be a bit hard to swallow, but Step Up 2 still makes you want to throw on some Reeboks with the straps and give stomping the yard a shot.
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