Rating: PG-13

This film was released on August 6, 2010. Even though I was thrilled about Step Up and Step Up 2: The Streets, I wasn’t impressed with this new addition. The story-line,  basically, was the same as the previous movie; it felt like the same plot but with different people. Yes, of course, the House of Pirates’ place was going to be repossessed, and the crew had to win a dance battle in order to keep their “home.” The Pirates have an opposing crew called House of Samurai against them that will do anything to defeat the gang. This sounds exactly like the last plot but with the Pirates needing money and not about honor and reputation as in Step Up 2: The Streets.

It was difficult to make any connection with the characters in this movie as I did in the other movies. Most of the characters were underdeveloped, and the viewer didn’t get a chance to see the personalities besides generalized traits. Of course, I love Adam Sevani who plays Moose in Step Up 2: The Streets, but I have had two movies to enjoy him and watch him grow as a character. Moose and Luke Katcher, played by Rick Malambri, are the only characters that I felt had any personality. Luke, at times, did feel flat as a character, but he was more developed than most in the movie. Natalie, who is played by Sharni Vinson, didn’t have time to grow within the movie. It seems as though they rushed her development. I enjoyed her at the beginning and was cheering for her to be with Luke, but she was never able to redeem herself after the plot twist. I will not give too much away about the movie, even though, the plot is predictable, and most viewers will be able to figure out what happens next way before the middle of the movie.

The movie does stick to its dancing genre and does not slack on the dancing. In fact, there seems to be quite a lot more dance scenes than in the previous two movies; the dance moves were incredible, and I thoroughly enjoyed all the different styles. The dancing was full of energy, making me wish that I could pull off the moves shown. The final dance battle where the Pirates and the Samurai dance against each other for the prize money was quite amazing to say the least, however, Natalie and Luke’s dance was not needed and felt as though it was only kept to help advance the plot. When they stopped the dance sequences, I found myself wishing it would just focus on the dancing, so I wouldn’t have to watch anymore of the regurgitated plot.

There were a few scenes that were just not needed or actually took away from the main plot. In the final scene, I found myself watching the man and woman talk with the police officer behind Luke and Natalie. I don’t believe that is something a director wants his audience to focus on, but I was more interested in what unimportant characters were talking about than the main characters. If a person is looking for a dance movie with a decent plot, I would recommend Step Up or Step Up 2: The Streets. Step Up 3 is definitely worth skipping.

My Rating: ★★