Three years after British audiences were treated with Streetdance 3D, a superior dance movie that was immensely promoted because of Britain’s Got Talent street dance craze, comes this artsy version of the movie which tries to wrap itself as a political statement, but in reality does not inspire or add anything new to the dance movie genre.
The problem, a lot of the times is not with this particular film but instead, with the borderline ludicrous number of dance movies being released every year; and how similar all of them are to one another. With all that said, this is disappointingly sloppy and feels like a lost chance to tackle some genuine problems head on.
This one is Jaden, an aspiring performer, who is banned from showing off his dance skills by his parents, and Ethan, a girl magnet who decides to prove his dancing skills by winning a battle against her boyfriend. To impress them, he makes a plan with a bunch of odd and interesting dancers he plans to convert into a crew. All Stars features a new young ensemble cast that shines in the skill of dance more than they do in acting.
Ethan’s lovestruck neighbor, Amy (Fleur Houdijk) has so much to deal with. A mute John Barrowman, her father, is extremely comatose. On the other side of the spectrum, Brian(Gamal Toseafa) is an overweight kid who is a terrible dancer yet possesses some amazing skills. In addition to them, there is Tim (Dominic Herman-Day) and Rebecca (Amelia Clarkson), who are brother and sister, and quite annoying. They seem to have excelled in dancing, but only had their lessons in a ballroom, so they are more accustomed to refined dancing as opposed to street dancing. There are slight, and outdated, class issues in the way Tim and Rebecca use their comic relief which was just one of many problems I had with the film.
I won’t pretend to know how younger audiences will perceive the film (there was a little kid in my screening and they loved it) but adults will find it exceedingly tough to digest the constantly negative attitude towards them. Parents are just obstacles in this world where children know everything. No matter how plausible, I have an issue with this kind of attitude and feel it is a little reckless for a film aimed at preschoolers to showcase such sentiments so blatantly. The club runner played by Ashley Jensen and the bowing mother presented by Kimberly Walsh are also the only ones left, as well as those dreadful ones who, of course, do change at the end.
However, the film has some nice highlights, especially the dream-sequence dance numbers that put the movie into a different realm just to showcase the incredible dancers in the cast. The oddest example is John Barrowman’s tap number, which has nothing to do with the film. It’s as if the filmmakers woke up to the fact that they cast Amy’s father and hurriedly edited a scene together (though, of course, Kimberly Walsh does not get the opportunity to showcase her dancing skills). In any case, and as outlandish as they might be, these intervals serve to stimulate the movie at the points where you would have switched off mentally.
Houdijk’s (Billy Elliot The Musical) charming girl next door was the most impressive for me, showing a good amount of range for the character. Nonetheless, the only redeemable aspect of the movie is the vigorous dancing in the scenes. Maybe one day we will see a dance movie that remembers to do something differently in the story, but it is very clear that today is not that day. While attempting to address relevant themes of cuts to the arts and the closing of youth clubs, the only solutions offered are collection boxes and sit-ins. I can tell that All Stars will not get the attention of the lawmakers.
Younger children may have some degree of fun with All-Stars, but it is cringe-worthy, light-hearted entertainment that is at its worst. It possesses an ensemble of young talent alongside dependable older British stars, but the lackluster plot is bound to sap any interest that you may have had in the film’s key message.
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