Born to Dance
Coming of age tale told through the eyes of 'Tu', an ambitious young man from Auckland who dreams of being a professional hip-hop dancer.
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- Cast:
- Kherington Payne , John Tui , Parris Goebel
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Reviews
I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
Such a frustrating disappointment
Excellent, a Must See
The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;
Ever since the first "Step Up" I have been TIRED and bored by Western dance movies. It was always the same garbage; guy meets girl, girl does ballet, guy does hip-hop, they kiss, enter a competition and win. That's the gist of every American made dance movie. Enter this quiet little film from New Zealand, and I can honestly say that I was engrossed from beginning to end. It isn't just a movie about dancers with some garbage story tacked on to justify the hour and half run time. This is a real movie, with a plot, relate-able and likable characters, and a really great soundtrack. Every worked their butt off to make this movie the best it could possibly be, and it paid off in spades. The story was entertaining, I cared about what happened to the characters, and everyone was just a pleasure to watch. The really star of this movie is, of course, the dancing. I thought South Koreans were the dancing kings, but New Zelanders could seriously give them a run for their money. These guys can MOVE. Every single dance segment was unique, original, dynamic, and a spectacle in and of itself. I got up a few times and tried to replicate the moves, even though I have no memory for choreography.This movie was great and I loved everything about it, except one of the actors; the female American lead. She was horribly untalented, and I knew for a fact that she couldn't really dance. Then I looked at the credits and she had not 1 but 3(!) dance doubles. Why even cast her if she couldn't dance? Because she is somewhat pretty? She dragged down what could have been a perfect cast, and almost ruined the movie every time she opened her mouth. Aside from this horrible casting choice, everyone was like a good friend you wanted to know more about, and if that doesn't make a good movie, I don't know what does.
This film tells the story of an underprivileged young man in New Zealand, who chases his dream to become a hip hop dancer in order to lift him away from a life that's going nowhere.There are lots of dance films like "Born to Dance", and all of them have predictable plots. This film is no exception, but the journey to the inevitable ending is uplifting and fun. The supporting characters are a lot of fun, I especially like the neighbour woman who delivers insightful and motivational lines. The female lead, Sasha, is a great character as well because she is so real and so human. I enjoyed watching this film, as it emanates positivity and has cool dance routines.
The best appeal "Born to Dance" could offer is its New Zealand root, not its storyline. It virtually has the same plot from many other dance movies, even dating back to decades before. Fortunately, the dance choreography is smooth enough to get the momentum going and for several scenes, especially the later ones, it leaps above its cryptic narrative.Story is tediously bland, this might appeal with audience unfamiliar to dance movie, but if one is exposed to "Step it Up" franchise or even "Magic Mike", there's nothing fresh in term of narrative. It's a tale of Tu (Tia Maipi), an aspiring dancer who auditions for K-Crew, the winner of many competitions. He soon finds out that his dream isn't as easily achievable as he thought.It's filled with cliché such as the overly vilified antagonist, the love interest who is tied to said antagonist and the gathering of rejects in hope dethrone the defending champ led by the now motivated main character. This rigid formula follows things already done in almost exact screenplay and the magic wears off fast.The good parts come, like many other dance movies, when they leave the dialogue and communicate with body language. It has few of the uplifting choreography and it uses the culture aspect appropriately. There are some sketchy scenes where the visual feels drab, but when the music hits it holds up pretty nicely."Born to Dance" won't revolutionize the dancing genre or take it by storm, but in its core it's a light fun movie saved by the distinct choreography.
I really like the film, it's entertaining and it adds a new feel to usual hip hop films that you see. I understand that some people were not impressed by the acting in certain points, but the creators of the film made do with what they got. The plot line is unoriginal, but they more than make up for it by using the unoriginal concepts in an original way. For example, If you were to compare this to You got served; you can see similarities of people risking their future to win a competition and how they usually turn out to be underdogs but end up winning. In this case, they made it original with the characters that they have and original with the kind way they execute the story.