If you watched 2006’s Step Up, you’ll pretty much know what to expect from its follow-up, Step Up 2 the Streets. Yup, you guessed it, this sequel is just as cheesy and cringe-worthy as the original, and just as much fun for fans of the genre.

Even the plot shows uncanny similarities. Since her mother’s death, Andie West (Briana Evigan) hasn’t had the feeling that she belongs anywhere. She lives with her mother’s best friend, Sarah, and frequently skips school to rehearse with 410, a notorious street dance crew. Following Sarah’s threat to send Andie off to live with her aunt in Texas, her friend Tyler (Channing Tatum, protagonist of the original Step Up) saves the day by getting her an audition at the Maryland School of the Arts (MSA).

Despite not fitting the stereotype of the classically trained dancer, Andie gets in. Her problems are far from over however – Not only does she clash with the straight laced crowd at MSA, she also ends up getting kicked out of the 410 crew. What follows is the usual fairytale of mind over matter, with Andie founding her own ‘MSA’ dance crew together with school hottie Chase Collins (Robert Hoffman) and a group of other school misfits, and battling it out against the 410 in the city’s biggest underground dance competition, ‘The Streets’.

Not that the story line matters at all though, as this film feels like an extended MTV video clip. In fact, the script and acting are so awful you start to wish they had dispensed with it altogether and concentrated more on ‘hip hopping’ and ‘street locking’ instead.

The dance sequences simmer along nicely, but it isn’t until the very last scene that Step Up 2 really comes into its own. That scene is breathtaking however, a visually stunning set-up that kind of justifies the price of the entry ticket.

Step Up 2 the Streets is pretty much in the same mould as Honey, Save the last Dance and other dance films of recent years. Teenagers and dance fanatics will love the ‘poor girl done good’ theme and Justin Timberlake-esque moves; everyone else should wait for the DVD.