Step Up 3D (also known simply as Step Up 3) is a 2010 American 3D dance film directed by Jon M. Chu and written by Amy Andelson and Emily Meyer. It is the third in the Step Up film series. The film features the return of Adam G. Sevani and Alyson Stoner, who portrayed Moose from Step Up 2: The Streets and Camille Gage from Step Up, respectively. It also stars Rick Malambri and Sharni Vinson.
The film follows Moose and Camille Gage as they head to New York University, the former of whom is majoring in electrical engineering after promising his father that he would not dance anymore. However, he soon stumbles upon a dance battle, meeting Luke Katcher and his House of Pirates dance crew and teams up with them to compete in the World Jam dance contest against their rival, the House of Samurai dance crew.
Step Up 3D premiered at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood on August 2, 2010, and was released in the United States on August 6, by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The film went on to become the highest grossing of the series, earning $159.2 million, but received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the choreography and visuals, but criticized the plot and acting.
A fourth in the series, Step Up Revolution, was released in 2012.
Contents
Plot
Moose and Camille go to NYC to attend NYU. He is majoring in electrical engineering after promising his father that he would not dance anymore. While touring the campus, Moose sees a pair of Limited Edition Gun Metal Nike Dunks worn by Luke Katcher, the leader of the House of Pirates dance crew.
As Moose follows Luke he stumbles upon a dance battle, where he beats Kid Darkness from the dancing crew House of Samurai. Luke takes him back to his place, an old warehouse converted into a club. There he tries to convince Moose to join his dance crew, with whom he teams up. Luke believes that with the skills of Moose and the rest of his dance crew, they could win the grand prize in the World Jam Championships contest to help pay the mortgage, as the warehouse is in arrears so could be auctioned off.
Luke meets Natalie at the club and notices her dancing abilities, so enlists her to become part of the crew, unaware of Natalie's motives. Moose has to choose between his studies and dance, between a test and a dance competition. He goes to test, but seeing the paper and receiving a message from Luke, he rushes to the competition just in time.
Luke and Natalie become increasingly closer. He shows her his recordings and dance interviews. Natalie is hiding the fact that her brother is Julien, the leader of the House of Samurai, and lies about everything but the love connection between her and Luke.
Natalie faces a hard decision between her love and family. She confronts Luke, asking what happened with him and Julien. He explains that Julien was a member of the House of Pirates, but has a gambling problem. He once wagered against the crew then threw the battle, so they kicked him out.
After arguing with Julien, Natalie decides to leave Luke rather than betray him further. Julien invites Luke to her birthday party using her phone. Luke asks Moose to attend the party with him, but they are not permitted to enter as they have no invitation. They find a way to get in and Luke and Natalie dance a tango. Julien reveals her identity so Luke is upset with her.
When Luke arrives back at the warehouse, he finds it is foreclosed. Angry at himself for not being a better leader, he exclaims that the House of Pirates is over, and the crew members go their separate ways. Moose and Camille are best friends, but Moose does not see that she is in love with him. The two fall out after Moose shows up late to a party; the final straw after being distant with her since arriving at university.
Cast
Rick Malambri as Luke Katcher, the leader of the House of Pirates.
Adam G. Sevani as Robert "Moose" Alexander III, a hip hop dancer who is studying electrical engineering at NYU.
Sharni Vinson as Natalie, a talented street dancer who is recruited to join the House of Pirates.
Alyson Stoner as Camille Gage, Moose's best friend and Tyler's foster sister who is a talented hip hop dancer.
Joe Slaughter as Julien, the leader of the House of Samurai and Natalie's brother.
Frank Moran as Moose's Dad
Kathy Najimy as Moose's Mom
Keith Stallworth as Jacob
Kendra Andrews as Anala
Stephen "tWitch" Boss as Jason Hardlerson
Chadd "Madd Chadd" Smith as Vladd
Jonathan "Legacy" Perez as Legz
Martín Lombard as Martin Santiago
Facundo Lombard as Marcos Santiago
Oren "Flearock" Michaeli as Carlos, A person in the House of Pirates
Daniel "Cloud" Campos as Kid Darkness
Shirley Henriquez, as part of the pirates crew
Luis Alberto Rodríguez, as part of the Pirates crew
Soundtrack
Step Up 3D is the film soundtrack album from the motion picture Step Up 3D. The album was released on 27 July 2010. The singles from the album are: "Club Can't Handle Me" by Flo Rida featuring David Guetta, "Already Taken" by Trey Songz, "My Own Step" by Roscoe Dash and T-Pain featuring Fabo and "Irresistible" by Wisin & Yandel.
"Squeeze It (feat. Dada Life & Tiesto)" by DJ Frank E was used in the official advertisement of the film.
Home media
The film was released by Touchstone Home Entertainment on Blu-ray 3D and DVD in the United Kingdom on November 29, 2010, in the United States on December 21, 2010, and in the Philippines on January 27, 2011.
Reception
Critical response
Step Up 3D received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave it an approval rating of 47% based on 123 reviews, with an average score of 5.10/10. The website's critical consensus said: "It may not contain believable acting or a memorable plot, but Step Up 3-D delivers solid choreography and stunning visuals". It holds a score of 45 out of 100 on Metacritic from 23 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B+.
Keith Uhlich of Time Out New York named Step Up 3D the third-best film of 2010, arguing that it "[one-upped] the overpraised stereoscopic advancements of Avatar." In 2020, Uhlich named it the tenth-best film of the 2010s.
Box office
The film made $6,657,326 on its first night of release (August 6, 2010), landing second after the buddy cop film The Other Guys, which received $13,124,233. In the weekend box office the movie placed third with $15,812,311 behind the latter and Inception. Its domestic box-office run ended on November 4, 2010, having accumulated $42,400,223 and as of December 5, 2010 it has also earned $116,889,135 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $159,289,358. It has more than doubled the overseas gross of the first film, although it is the least-grossing film of the series in the United States and Canada. On the weekend lasting from October 8–10, 2010 it surpassed Step Up 2: The Streets to become the highest-grossing movie of the franchise worldwide. In terms of estimated attendance, it is far behind its predecessors. Besides the United States and Canada, countries where it grossed over $10 million were Germany ($13,869,503), Russia and the CIS ($12,131,409) and the United Kingdom, Ireland and Malta ($11,537,610).
Accolades
Melissa Muik, the film's music editor, was nominated for a 2011 Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing – Music in a Musical Feature Film.
