Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Undescribable Perfection

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

I've lost count of how many times I've seen this film -- at least once with each new friend. It is a celebration of beauty, childhood, and transition -- and, oh, yes, dance. I wish at my adult age I could dance with the grace and involvement of these children. The film maker follows them outside the studio, to show us their hopes and dreams. It is astoundingly rendered, particularly for this physically inept klutz reviewer that finally found his dance as he approached 50, and now agonizes: Where were these teachers when I needed them? If you have felt the music but never felt comfortable showing that feeling in public, believing you were too clumsy to exhibit your appreciation: See this movie. Glory in it. Then take a few lessons. It's there, go for it.

"Excellent!" is a word I've heard applied to this film by so many different viewers from so many different backgrounds; one prominent New York critic refers to it as "slight and charming;" I rather think of it as "monumental and utterly mesmerizing." We observe a batch of disparate kids from various ethnicities come together as they are exposed to art, in this case the art of dancing; this is not a sugarcoated look at childhood, but a fascinating examination of what happens when dedicated teachers are able to interact with love and discipline and give kids honest self-esteem which they earn by active participation. This film is the best argument I've seen for increasing the Federal Arts Education Budget and perhaps spending a little less on bombs and already obsolete armaments; your contacts with many of the kids will leave you with a pleasant feeling, instead of feeling assaulted with car explosions, torrents of expletives and noisy special effects--this is excellent entertainment at a high level--and without condescension or sugar coating!

The only word I have for this movie is this: sucka. This is not a great movie to watch, except if you like documentaries about a certain school's activities. And believe me, unless its something important, I don't need to know.It was like watching a movie about how Smurfs were created, except we don't know who these schools are. It didn't really matter to me because I don't like dancing much anyway. And even if I did, this would not be something I would watch.Overall, its not worth the trip. I just wish that documentaries like this aren't released on the big screen. It is a waste to let people see. But I am not surprised Nick is the one who did this. "D-"

For many of the students who attend New York City's public schools, education often takes a back seat to the daily struggles brought about by poverty, language barriers and broken homes. It's small wonder, then, that so many students drop out of school, turn to gangs and drugs, and lose all hope for a bright, productive future. In an attempt to circumvent that scenario and to give its children a viable reason for staying in school, the district has implemented a program that introduces all 5th graders to the fine art of ballroom dancing. After a year of training, the best dancers go on to compete in a citywide competition that, for many of these kids, represents the one truly positive influence in their lives. The rapturous documentary "Mad Hot Ballroom" is a tribute to that program.Director Marilyn Agrelo has focused on three schools, two in Manhattan and one in Brooklyn, where the program is in full swing. Most of the film is spent chronicling the efforts on the part of the teachers and the students to get ready for the competition. However, the movie also offers a generous collection of clips showing the children in their off-school hours, at home or in local hangouts. The kids are not shy about opening up for the camera as they comment on all aspects of their lives, revealing their street smarts and their refreshingly candid, canny and thoughtful assessments of the world around them. And as the competition increases, the kids learn a little something, too, about the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.The film-making style - which alternates between interviews and scenes of the children dancing - is straightforward and relatively conventional, but the subject matter is so compelling in its own right that any attempt on the part of the filmmakers to fancy it up would most likely have detracted from the movie's overall value as an instructional document. If there is a flaw in the film, it is that the movie isn't as successful at differentiating the individual participants as, say, "Spellbound," a movie about spelling bees which took great pains to zero in on specific children throughout the course of the film, the end result being that we really felt that we got to know them as people. In "Ballroom," however, the kids, adorable as they are, come across more as part of a herd than as a collection of clearly delineated individuals. But the scenes centered on the competition are as filled with suspense, emotion and high drama as those in "Spellbound." In this day and age in which funding for the arts in public education should have its own Endangered Species Act, it's wonderful to see such a program not only surviving but flourishing in such unpromising soil. Though the program is clearly no panacea for all of life's many ills, for these children, at least, it seems to be a major step in setting them on the right path to a future full of promise and hope.Steeped in emotion and beautiful in spirit, "Mad Hot Ballroom" is "inspirational" film-making in the very best sense of the term.