Step Up 3D

Directed by Jon Chu. Starring Rick Malambri, Adam Sevani, Sharni Vinson, Alyson Stoner PG cert, gen release, 107 min

YOU KNOW what? For all the modesty of its ambition, the third film in the Step Upseries – the Star Wars of street dance – might just feature the best use of 3-D since the ghastly technique came back into vogue.

Whereas Pixar boffins whitter on about “immersive” techniques, the folk behind this class of trash know that the process only makes sense when objects are being gratuitously flung at the audience’s collective face.

Prepare to duck. Barely a moment goes by without a body hurtling into the unsuspecting foreground. Balloons are unleashed. Water is spilled with abandon. In one particularly shameless sequence, a character drips residue from his raspberry slushy over the upward waft of a subway air vent. The effect is rather lovely. You wouldn’t exactly call it cinema, but you could watch it all day (or all afternoon anyway).

Why waste paper describing the story in too much depth? Suffice to say that, yet again, some posh kid assists a bunch of urchins in their efforts to win a dance tournament. Fans of the genre will find plenty to enjoy: the choreography is both smashing and super.

Alumni of New York University may, however, balk at the depiction of their alma mater as a glorified high school where students pass the time by drinking soda and playing charades. What has become of today’s youth?