Rosalie and I both loved Step Up the original, so of course we were super-keen to see the sequal, imaginatively titled “Step Up 2 The Streets“.

The movie has completely new characters but set in the same neighbourhood. The focus is also more on the neighbourhood than just the school, and is the story of a B-girl who, rather than trying to fit in with a performing arts school she is made to attend to avoid being sent to live in Texas, instead helps other students who don’t fit the typical dancer mould to become a dance crew. The crew rehearse with the intent to perform at the infamous (and apparently illegal – dancing is dangerous, yo!) “streets” competition where crews battle in the same way that rappers do.

The dance sequences are fierce – some really strong dancing, and I really loved the last dance piece – in the rain no less. I found the clip on YouTube, so watch it if you don’t mind a spoiler.

Lisa and I are small children at heart, worshiping at the shrine of cuteness. We’ve been waiting for months for Horton to come out, and we were not disappointed. 

The animation for a start is amazing. The scenes is set in a jungle with Horton, the eccentric elephant, finding a spec that contains a whole world on it. The spec rests on a flower, and Horton makes it his mission to save the residents of the spec, the Whos of Whoville, by taking them to cave on top of a mountain.

Horton’s mission is hampered by the head of the tribe, a kangaroo who fears change. The kangaroo sends a vulture called Vlad after him to destroy the spec to protect the town from Horton’s controversial ideas.

The movie has several homages to the original Dr Seuss animation, which I loved, and the narration kept the rhyming couplets from the original book as well.

Lise and I were the only adults in the cinemas without children, but found the movie was skewed to adults as well as children, so we both enjoyed it thoroughly. It kept the kids totally enthralled – no whining, crying, talking kids in the entire two hours. Except for a whack on the head I received from the toddler sitting behind me, I totally forgot we were seeing a kids movie. 

My favourite thing about the movie was the theme, and line Horton spoke – “A person is a person, no matter how small”. A thought we could all keep and apply to race and species I think.