I have been watching dance movies lately as you might have noticed and this is yet another one. This time we follow the life of Pierre Dulaine and what he did to help problem kids in schools.
Making movies about real people and real stories is always a difficult task. Most of the time you either have to add fictional stuff too make the movie entertaining, or stick to the real story and hope people are still interested. Without knowing exactly how authentic the story in the movie is compared to the real life of Pierre Dulaine, I am guessing that option two was used in this film.
I am certain that Pierre Dulaine was a very good man that did a lot of good things, sadly his life did not transform into a movie in the way I was hoping for. Throughout I had a feeling that something was missing, the flow just didn't seem right. And in the end when the students where dancing at the contest, the jump from practice to performance was way to high. It was like they became professionals over night.
The movie has some strong points as well. The dancing was a joy to watch and Antonio Banderas was as charming as ever. Acting was overall decent with Banderas leading the way. The message of the story is also important and can not be told enough. Everyone has a chance at their dreams no matter where they are from or how much money they have. Sometimes they just need a little help.
Overall a decent movie with its ups and downs. I was a bit disappointed, but it is by no means horrible. 6/10