Save the Last Dance 2 Movie Review

Turns out it wasn't quite the last dance last time. Izabella Miko (one of the ladies from Coyote Ugly) steps into Julia Stiles' size 0 leotard for this sequel, which has Sara now attending Julliard to become a ballerina... while of course still indulging her passion for hip-hop dancing. She's broken up with Derek (Sean Patrick Thomas in the original) and is now courting a stand-in professor at Julliard (Columbus Short).

All the facets of similar films (from Fame to Center Stage) are here: An evil headmistress (Jacqueline Bisset), a horny roommate (Aubrey Dollar), and endless discussion of how hard it is to be a dancer for a living (no argument there). But the film retreads the original Dance pretty much completely, right down to Sara's interracial romance and her struggle for acceptance in the urban, hip-hop scene. While Miko is a fine (if quirky) actress, she doesn't have the natural, girl-next-door charm of Stiles, though ironically the angular, Polish beauty does make for a more credible ballerina.

DVD extras include a making-of featurette.