So Did ‘Take The Lead’ Take The Lead? (A movie review)

As part of my writing course, I had to write a movie review for a film that is presently on circuit. I chose Take The Lead. Here is the review:

I went along to this movie fully expecting it to be one of those stereo-typical “The rich guy helps the poor street kids” type films. You can therefore imagine my surprise when I found myself entertained virtually from beginning to end. There were little to no cheesy one-liners about how you can do everything you put your mind to, blah, blah… The theme of the story was based on the triumph of the human spirit over adverse circumstances.

A group of under privileged inner-city kids are forced to take dance lessons are part of their detention program. The main character, Pierre Dulaine played outstandingly by Antonio Banderas witnesses a school teacher’s car being vandalized by a student. The following day he offers his services as a dance instructor to the skeptical principal played by Alfre Woodard. She reluctantly agrees to his “hair brain scheme” and so the story begins. Dulaine begins his quest of teaching these students life lessons and instill a set of values he believes they will learn through dance.

The characters were high-quality in many respects. When looking to see how compelling a character is, one should always consider (a) what is his/her goal, (b) what are the obstacles in getting that goal, (c) what is the reward if he/she gets there and (d) what are the consequences if he/she doesn’t attain the goal. In this story, there were multiple goals, differing from character to character or story to story. Pierre Dulaine’s goal was to teach a set of values to street kids. For the kids, the goal became winning the $5,000 reward in the dance competition. For Dulaine’s assistant dance instructor, it was all about getting romantically involved with him. There were others, but these were the ones that stood out for me.

It was interesting to journey with the characters as they attempted to overcome various obstacles to attain their goals. The writer did a good job in highlighting the goal, and then putting a hurdle in the way and showing us how those were overcome. An example: Near the end, just as Dulaine is about to accomplish his goal, the school board pulls the plug on his dance classes. It wasn’t a case of “Will they or won’t they dance” now, because it was a given that in a dance movie, the character will dance! More intriguing was the suspense to see how Dulaine would convince the board to continue the classes! Although predictable in this respect, the story was kept alive so well by Banderas’ character, that really in the end you didn’t mind its predictability.

Character development was exposed well in dialogue. For example, in the beginning none of the kids had any manners, clearly shown in the scene where Dulaine opens the door for female teachers and students. When they thank him, he responds with a polite “You’re welcome”. This surprised all of the students, who however, by the end of the film were doing the same thing. The dialogue showed clearly the difference between Dulaine and the street kids, or the morally educated as opposed to those who were being educated. Also, another clever display of character development was the opening scene showing the kids getting dressed in what I can only describe as “gangster getup” going to a school rave. At the end, they were dressing up formally for a ballroom dancing contest. The antithesis was incredibly clear.

The soundtrack of the film enhanced the viewers’ experience of understanding the differences between the poor kids and the rich, ballroom dancing kids. The heavy, gangster, hip-hop music in the one scene followed by a more mellow, musical dance music-over in the following scene helped in defining the contrasts.

The overall visual of the film was generally good. In some of the dance scenes, the camera was too close to the dancers, making it difficult to see the moves they were pulling off. The lighting blended itself nicely to the “dancing room” scenes. The basement where the downtown kids practiced was noticeably dimmer than the fully-equipped dance studio.

The audience got caught up well within the scenes. There were roars of laughter during the comedy scenes and a sense of tension and anticipation when waiting for the results of the competition scene.

I felt the storyline was somewhat predictable, as would be the case with these types of “feel good” movies. However, this didn’t really matter as the characters were strong and compelling. There were moments when I got caught up in the story, knowing what would most likely come next, but still was intrigued and full of anticipation for what was coming. Many times I forgot I was supposed to be watching this from a “technical” angle than an entertainment one.

Sniffle

I got flu.

*cough* *cough* *sniff*