When I told people at work that I thought Step Up 3D “wasn’t too bad”, I received a few strange looks.  I can’t blame them.  I’d usually carve up such a film.  The plot is mindless and the dialogue is worse than an episode of The Bold & The Beautiful.  I don’t think it’ll be on the minds of Academy voters when filling out their ballot for best original screenplay.

It’s clear though that the filmmakers weren’t too concerned about the plot.  This is a 107 minute music video for those who love street dancing.  If that’s why you’re buying your ticket, you won’t be disappointed.  These dancers are very talented and you can sense the weeks of rehearsal time that have gone into each key scene.

I’ve been critical in recent months of 3D movies.  Too many studios seem to be “cashing in” on the 3D craze by adding the effects during post production.  Examples include Alice In Wonderland and Clash Of The Titans.  That’s not the case here.  Director John Chu has carefully planned each scene to milk all he can from the 3D format.  There’s a very cool scene involving a guy, a girl, an air vent and a slushie.

This will probably leave you cringing but I should spend one paragraph describing the storyline.  A guy named Luke (Malambri) owns an apartment which is home to a group of street dancers.  He’s behind on his mortgage payments and the bank is going to foreclose.  It turns out that the leader of a rival dance crew is first in line to buy it.  How can Luke get out of this situation?  He and his friends are going to win a huge street dancing contest with a $100,000 first prize.  They’ll be able to save the farm… I mean… the apartment!

I know it sounds bad but I still had fun.  It’s got creative dance moves, decent choreography and a solid soundtrack.  It didn’t inspire me to take up “krumping” but I was still impressed by what these dancers had to offer.