Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

ChicDragon It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Jerrie It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

waiching liu I saw this movie when it was premiered on Channel 4 for the first time on Sunday 13 September, this year and I have to say that afterwards I thought it was okay, at best.Take The Lead is basically 'Fame' mixed in with elements from the Australian flick, 'Strictly Ballroom' and 'Dangerous Minds'- but whereas those movies in their own way, captured the essence of triumph over adversity and the idea of working hard to get to where you want to be and in Fame's case, combining it with dance, Take The Lead doesn't necessarily quite hit the mark.It wasn't by any means awful, but neither was it fantastic- yet it was entertaining to say the least. I expected more in terms of what was happening, but it just didn't materialise throughout the duration of the movie.I did feel that some parts of the movie were a little too over-exaggerated and corny, but they didn't put me off from watching it the whole way through.Antonio Banderas's performance wasn't his best, but with regards to the material he was given, he made the most out of it and at times, he really asserted his authority in this film. As his character tries to instill confidence, passion to his students and motivating them to take a keen interest in ballroom dancing. The choreography was good though- well executed and captured and shot on camera brilliantly, the acting was good in places, but the script was somewhat of a letdown.I really wanted to enjoy this movie a lot- instead, it didn't live up to what I expected from it, and I expected more from 'Take The Lead'.The ending especially disappointed me and I felt this was a let down, given that it didn't go to great lengths to tie up the loose ends of the characters' own predicaments. I'm not sure that many people who have watched or will watch the movie will buy that ending completely. I didn't.If you're expecting something similar on the lines of 'Fame', 'Strictly Ballroom' then you can forget it. It is entertaining to watch yes and it is not bad, but that's about it. If you do watch 'Take the Lead', then it is probably best to do so for the choreography than for anything else.

Penny Lane I'm gonna start by saying that the only reason why I went to all the trouble of opening an account in this site so I could publicly complain about this movie. I was watching it a while ago and I just couldn't stop laughing out loud during the whole thing, since it's just unbelievable the amount of nonsense and common places just one single film can come up with. Although it is to be remarked that the dancing is sincerely amazing (which is why I gave it a 2), that doesn't make up for the fact that the rest of the movie is just an insult to both the viewer's intelligence and the art of story-telling altogether. If there was a competition to decide which script in the history of the film industry contains the highest number of clichés in the world, this one would definitively "take the lead" of it and leave all the rest of them behind. Honestly, I just couldn't believe it: when this movie was written, someone must have been following the how-to-make-a-corny-movie recipe, because absolutely all of the ingredients are to be found in this film. We have: 1) The authority: a mean and not-so-cold-hearted school principal, who pretends to be to tough to care but in the end proves that deep down she has feelings and all. 2)The hero: a sweet well intentioned dance teacher, who apparently has way too much free time and money in his hands. 3) The ones who are saved by the hero: an outcast group of annoyingly stereotypical minority examples, such as hispanic, obese and black people who have to deal with all sorts of dramatic issues: there's the drug related murder, the alcoholic father, the mother who has to prostitute herself to feed her children and the abandon father. Of course, all this kids go out of their ways to be "better than that". Yet, they are all in detention. 4) The nemesis: a science teacher who not only doesn't give a damn about this unfortunate children, but even manages to get the school PTA (mean bastards, the lot of them) against the dance classes, as if the parent and teachers didn't have anything better to deal with, given the fact that half of the students seem to be nothing but potential criminals. 5) The mean blonde (very blond. Stereotype contrast is everything here), who looks down at the lot because they are poor and not American. Hence, a bunch of losers. 6) The blonde who's not mean: an upper-class teenager (as white as white paint can be) with way too many issues to even talk about them. Risks her head joining the ghetto dance class but gets away with it and ends up hooking up with an obese black guy who everyone calls "monster". Her mother's gonna be proud. 7) The drama moment: the final scene where all of the above (yes, the principal too) come together in a dance contest that the for-some-reason-loaded dance teacher manages to get them into by paying a fortune. They don't win (that would have been way too much) but they do learn the lesson: "go for your dreams", "don't never give up", "we're all the same", whatever other cheesy thing you might think of. To all of this, I would just like to add the fact that the whole movie lacks of any kind of deepness in regards of the serious issues it pretends to deal with, it's boring, predictable and just as flat as a white sheet. Don't waste your time on this film; if you wanna see dancing moves, just go watch high school musical or something like that.

buiger It's a shame, I really wanted to give this movie a better rating, in spite of all the political correctness (which in this case amounts to nothing more than wishful thinking) and in spite of the story often veering off into fairy tale territory, but the ending completely destroyed and made me forget anything that was good in this film. How can the filmmakers be so dumb and not see that nobody (and I mean nobody) will buy that type of silly ending, so plastered with good feeling and political correctness, that you can see the sweet, sticky glue oozing out from all pores... It is ridiculous! To consider that all this is supposed to be based on a true story makes things even worse. The real Pierre Dulaine should sue for slander!On the other hand, what is positive in this film is a good premise/storyline which could however have been developed much better, made much more realistic. Also positive are most acting performances (especially Banderas who is very convincing in his role, I must grudgingly admit), the sound quality and the dancing. It's a real pity the film eventually veered off in the wrong direction.

ma-cortes A good-hearted dance professor(Banderas) asks to Principal(Alfre Woodard)of a rough school the education of rebels students by the Dance-Studio, then he takes over a class of unteachable pupils(Reb Brown, DaCosta, among them).The novice teacher gradually earning respect from his pupils and he learns that turning their attitude requires an intense understanding of their hard-knock lives. Together these misfits attempt to win the championship of the ballroom. The film is based on real character , about Pierre Dulaine who appears uncredited as one of the judges for the grand ballroom competition.This well-meaning film is an enjoyable retread on two sub-genre : a)about the professor teaching unteachable teens, such as ¨Dangerous minds¨(directed by John Smith with Michelle Pffeifer),¨To sir with love¨(James Clavell with Sidney Poitier)¨Blackboard Jungle¨(Richard Brooks with Glenn Ford) along with , b) about the spectacular ballroom, including championship of dancing-saloon, such as ¨Stricly Ballroom(Baz Luhrman with Paul Mercurio),¨ Dance with me¨(Vanessa Williams and Cheyanne) and ¨Shall we dance¨(Richard Gere,Jennifer Lopez).In the film is heard and splendidly danced several dance styles: Foxtrot,Tango,Chachacha,Rumba,Vals and Salsa. Well-acted by Antonio Banderas with experience at dancing in ¨Evita¨ and excellent supporting casting with extraordinary plethora of young people who make a nice work, in spite of mostly are newcomers. The movie is well produced by Toby Emmerich and the actor Ray Liotta. The story is professionally directed by Liz Friedlander in a great debut and his only film , he's usually video-maker, as REM, Celine Dion , among others. The flick will like to Antonio Banderas fans and youthful public. Hot music and dancing, as well as the charm of the leads, make this one well worth watching for any dancer fever enthusiastic.