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Step Up (2006) was arguably one of the most popular chic-flicks that was produced in 2006. Its highly anticipated sequel, Step Up 2: The Streets (2008) released early this year, was welcomed warmly by the public and soared to the top of the box office after it opened. Step Up 2's plot is not directly related to that of its prequel but is actually a spin-off from the storyline of the first.

The second episode focuses on Andie, the 'little sister' of the Tyler Gage, the male lead in Step Up. In the original Step Up, the only real screen time we saw of little Andie was when Tyler was giving some pointers to Andie on street dancing in a basketball court. In Step Up 2, Andie is all grown up, with a mean and rebellious streak. She is a problem teen to her guardian, participating in illegal activities with a street gang called '410'. When Andie's guardian found out that she was involved in a public disturbance case on a train, she decided to send Andie to Texas to start afresh. This is where Tyler Gage makes a cameo appearance - he returns and helps convince Sarah (Andie's guardian) to let her stay, on the condition that she enrolls in the famed, elite Maryland School of Arts (MSA).

As Andie immerses herself into MSA life, albeit reluctantly at first, she meets and makes new friends like the nerdy-looking Moose Alexander and the charming poster-boy Chase Collins. As MSA and her new friends take up more and more of her time, she finds herself drifting from her 410 family. Eventually, she gets expelled by their possessive leader Tuck. She was devastated as she would be outcast by her friends and she would not be able to take part in the renowned street dancing competition known as 'The Streets'. At this point, Chase suggested starting their own dance crew to compete in the streets. Initially skeptical, Andie eventually warms up to the idea after consolidating a crew of eight talented MSA schoolmates.

However, their participation in The Streets earns them the wrath of the influential 410 and in retaliation, the 410 wrecks a pristine dance studio in MSA. Andie is subsequently expelled from MSA for her participation in illicit activities while the entire school is warned. On the night of The Streets, her crew members, led by Chase and Moose, decided to risk everything they had at MSA to compete at The Streets.

One word sums up the entire storyline for this movie: predictable. Being predictable, means the plot is essentially typical and boring. The progression of the plot is largely unidirectional. It was obvious, by the way the story unfolded, that Andie would break away from the 410 and form her own crew. The finale was also not difficult to figure out and it was extremely cheesy, to say the very least. It seemed absurd to me how a volatile and hostile crowd at The Streets could warm up to and even cheer for Andie after a short 20 second speech.

Having said that, nobody watches Step Up 2 for the plot anyway. It definitely will not be winning any awards for originality or creativity, but you will be awed by how entertaining this film is. Who cares about the non-existent plot when you got dance moves like these? If you thought the dancing in Step Up was impressive, think again. Step Up 2 is all about crew-dancing, so you will teams of up to 8 people dancing in unison - break dancing in all its glory. I conclude that the almost-10-minutes-long finale dance scene is the best dance scene I have ever seen. It is the kind of dancing that will start an urge in you to start taking up break dancing lessons.

Another aspect of the show that I really appreciated was the soundtrack. Including songs like the wildly popular 'Low' by Flo-Rida, the soundtrack is absolutely groovy and exciting. Step Up 2: The Streets (2008) was a real visual and audio feast for me, and for me, this is one of the best 'watch-and-forget' shows in recent years.

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