Metromix Chicago Movies

Little orphan Andie (Briana Evigan) has one last chance to prove she’s not a screw-up by enrolling in the Maryland School of the Arts, where she meets a sympathetic hunk (Robert Hoffman) and inspires the school’s freaks and geeks (including a terrifically likable Adam Sevani) to prepare for Baltimore’s ultimate underground freestyle dance competition: the Streets.

Big questions: Is this anything we haven’t already seen in the first “Step Up,” “You Got Served,” “Save the Last Dance,” “Stomp the Yard,” “How She Move” and countless other dance movies? And, seriously, when you read the movie’s title, are you supposed to pause after the “2” or not?

Catch it: Featuring one of the most absurd opening sequences in recent memory—rebellious teens terrorize a subway car with their impromptu dance moves—it’s immediately clear that “Step Up 2” isn’t grounded in any kind of reality. It soon becomes even clearer that it doesn’t matter. The film’s breathless propulsive energy is improbably infectious—the dancing here is downright sick—and the filmmakers just may have made a major discovery in the spunky, smoky-voiced Evigan. She’ll need a more challenging role to test her acting abilities, but she’s got everything needed to carry the day here: smooth moves and a killer body.

Skip it: If you’re a dance traditionalist. This is the kind of movie where even the ballet-loving tight-assed authority figure (Will Kemp) gives in and learns to love freestyle. If you think that qualifies as a spoiler you’ll be really shocked by the other “twists” “Step Up 2” is packing.

Bottom line: What could have been mindless formulaic fluff for an audience of recent “High School Musical” grads winds up mindless formulaic fluff with enough booty-shaking charm to qualify as a great guilty pleasure. Freestyle dancing has been done to death, but “Step Up 2” takes all comers, right down to a spectacular dancing-in-the-rain climax.

Bonus: It took three choreographers to craft the numerous dance set-pieces: Jamal Sims (who also worked on the original “Step Up”), Hi-Hat and Dave Scott (“Stomp the Yard”).