Center Stage: Turn It Up (2008)

Number Rolled: 83

Movie Name/Year: Center Stage: Turn It Up (2008)

Genre: Drama

Length: 94 minutes

Rating: PG-13

Affiliated Companies: Stage 6 Films, Laurence Mark Productions

Director: Steven Jacobson

Writer: Carol Heikkinen, Karen Block Morse

Actors: Kenny Wormald, Rachele Brooke Smith, Sarah Jayne Jensen, Nicole Munoz, Christopher Russell, Peter Gallagher, Ethan Stiefel, Christian Vincent, Daniela Dib, Crystal Lowe, Lucia Walters, Cody Green, Jacqueline Ann Stuart, Keith Martin Gordey, Anthony Harrison

Kate is a home-trained dancer trying to get into the American Ballet Academy. When she’s rejected, she has to start on a back-up plan. However, she’s in a new city with nothing to help her. Only meeting Tommy helps her find her way out of her funk.

The original Center Stage is one of my favorite movies. It’s creative, the dance is spectacular, the music is great and the script is incredibly entertaining. The sequel, however, is one of the worst kinds of movies out there.

What makes Center Stage so great is that it’s original. There are a few general under-dog stereotypes but, for the most part, the originality of the movie overwhelms the rest. Center Stage: Turn It Up is almost the exact opposite. It banks only on stereotypes with little to nothing original in it. I have no issue with recipe movies, but this one is clunky. It’s ingredient after ingredient with nothing of value holding it all together. The acting and dance is crap compared to its predecessor as well.

I wouldn’t sit through this movie again if someone paid me.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 60%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 58%

Netflix’s Prediction for Me – 2.4/5

Trust-the-Dice Score – 1/5

P.S. There are dance scenes during the beginning of the end credits.

Movie Trailer: