So, I was jamming to Sean Paul’s “Give It Up to Me” off the “Step Up” soundtrack, as one does. As I was doing that, I started thinking. There have been six movies in the Step Up franchise (yes, it is a franchise). Given the movie that launched a half-dozen movies (and TV show), that should never have happened.
Step Up (2006) was a bad movie. There’s no way to cut, dissect, or (as my brother would say) inspect-element it. It was not good. The story. a basic “straight-and-narrow girl meets boy from the streets” tale is one that we’ve seen done, and done much better, a million times before. The characters have very little depth and aren’t that interesting (except Camille). Really, the only good thing about the movie is the dancing. The dancing sequences are brilliantly choreographed little segues from the rolling car crash that is the movie (this would be a running theme throughout the franchise) and remain the only memorable part of the movie. Also, Jenna Dewan is hot. Like, objectively. And I think the filmmakers were banking on that. So, the movie trundles through its 103-minute runtime and gets a fitting 21% on Rotten Tomatoes. Oddly enough, it manages to gross $114 million. This deludes the filmmakers enough to make 5 more movies (including a movie which is essentially a reskin of the first one). So, how did they manage it?
One word: Moose. Robert Alexander, III aka Moose joined the franchise in Step Up 2 and was instantly beloved. He then proceeded to appear in all the subsequent (main) movies, thus spawning what I contend is the greatest carry-job in the history of Hollywood, only rivalled perhaps by Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow. We loved Moose from the moment he showed up. He could dance (as was a prerequisite) but his was a level above anyone else. He was the best dancer in the movies, and everybody knew it. He was also an actual character, unlike most of the rest of the cast. Everyone else felt like stock characters. The kind you write when you’re still filling out the story but forget to replace with the actual characters. I can’t even remember their names, that’s how bad it is. But not with Moose. There can only be one Moose, and it shows. The way he dances, the choices he makes, everything about him feels organic. It feels like Moose. Moose was never the main character of any of the movies he starred in, but there was never any doubt as to who the audience was here to see. We all came to see Moose, and you know it.
Can’t forget my girl, Camille. She is the one of only two characters (plus Moose, naturally) that actually feel like people. It feels like the filmmakers dumped all their writing into these two and left none for anyone else, including the leads for basically all their movies. Camille is a brilliant dancer (perhaps the only person who can go toe to toe with Moose), a beautiful person, who also has a better story than any of the leads of the movies that she’s in. Her relationship with Moose feels real; it feels alive. It’s an actual thing that we can see develop, grow, change, and strengthen. Their dance number to Fred Astaire’s “I Won’t Dance” is perhaps my favorite moment in the entire franchise.
So, how did a franchise of mediocre-to-bad movies ever make it past one? Have enough well-choreographed dance sequences to distract from your terrible stories and characters, and when in doubt, bring out the Moose.
