Watch Take the Lead For Free

Very Cool!!!

the audience applauded

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Well, "Take the Lead" fits in that category of films that you already know how it's gonna end from the get go. Story is pretty basic, a man tries to teach something involving arts (in this case, classic dance) to a group of problem kids. As very predictable, the kids refuse to learn the "new" dance, but end up accepting this challenge and become friends with the professor-- who is extremely romantic and polite.Not that I don't like these music films, but this story has been used in so many films recently that I find this very hard to enjoy. I don't think there's enough plot for 118, there are many moments that you can notice how out of material director is. Moreover, there are plenty of corny scenes, such as Rock family's fight; not to mention that the actor who portrays Rock has much to learn about acting. You can easily notice that he memorialized all his lines and it might be one of his first jobs. I won't say anything about the ending because people already said how bad it was. But at least I must admit the film is filled with beautiful quotes and life lessons, to be heard and understood.

Lena Horne's recording of "I got Rhythm"soars above the title sequence of "Take the lead",leaving us on no doubt that the movie is indeed about rhythm - the rhythm of the dance,the rhythm of the streets,the rhythm of the basketball courts,the New York apartments and projects......the rhythm,if you like,of life. This feeling of energy and vitality is echoed in the pacing and cutting of the movie itself,sometimes frantic,sometimes languorous,but always infused with energy,restrained or unrestrained. Mr A.Banderas's slightly rueful charm is just right for the role of Paul Dulaine who - against all odds - brought Ballroom Dancing into the New York Public Schools System.He carries himself with the grace and precision of a young Burt Lancaster and never,metaphorically or literally,puts a foot wrong.It is a brilliantly controlled performance made all the more admirable for its apparent lack of artifice. There is,as you might expect,some wonderful music and dancing,superbly choreographed. Just one small scene where one of Dulaine's pupils dances alone to Sly and the Family Stone's remarkable version of "Que Sera,Sera" is worth the price of rental alone. There is nothing remotely original or cutting edge about "Take the lead" but it is a feast for the eyes and ears with a wonderful star performance. And as Ira Gershwin once said...."who could ask for anything more?"

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.

Having never really heard about the film before, I got drawn in by Mr Banderas as probably most people were and yes he was very good but totally shadowed by the younger cast!! The plot was a cliché at first, with a heart-warming message in the middle of it but the raw talent of the actors/dancers and hot hiphop mixes brought it to another level! Fantastic performances from YaYa DeCosta and Rob Brown, however it is Dante Basco who stands out for me as the heart of the film and in particular,so so hot! If this movie doesn't get your heart racing and your feet moving, then you have no rhythm in your soul what-so-ever. 10 out of 10....did i mention soooo hot!