its dramatization of a U.S. dream team's journey to the international showcase is leaden with predictable character types and storytelling cliches, neither of which its well-executed but oddly infrequent dance sequences are able to overcome.
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Battle of the Year
Overview
A down-on-his-luck coach is hired to prepare a team of the best American dancers for an international tournament that attracts all the best crews from around the world, but the Americans haven't won in fifteen years.
Director and cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
The actual dancing scenes are occasionally electrifying, if far too sparse, but other than that and the welcome sight of co-star Chris Brown getting clocked in the face, the film barely gets off the ground, much less sticks the landing.
A dead-in-the-soul cash grab of a movie set in the competitive world of B-boy dancing that thinks cliches, phony melodrama and product placement can substitute for real storytelling and actual characters.
Battle of the Year clearly features lots of brilliant dancers, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy watching them move. But you wish there were more dancing here.
Should satisfy the planet of b-boys and girls to whom it thoroughly preaches, while amusing anyone else who simply can't ignore the promise of an all-corn buffet.
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