Step Up 3D

Step Up 3D (2010) is the third film in the series and moves to New York. Moose, starting university, joins a street dance crew; they have to raise money for a competition and lose their space if they fail. Its reason to exist is not the plot but shooting dance in three dimensions. Jon M. Chu designed the choreography for depth, adding water, dust, balloons and light to the scenes so that things would move through the frame in 3D. The sequence with the water pipes and the balloon finale are the clearest examples. Chu went on from here to Crazy Rich Asians and In the Heights, and his command of dance editing starts in these films. Its best sequence has nothing to do with the story. Two characters dance down a street to I Won't Dance in a single take, an open reference to classical Hollywood musicals and completely apart from the rapid cutting everywhere else. It was the highest grossing entry in the series and demonstrated that 3D had a use in dance films. It runs 107 minutes. Good for: dance cinema, choreography, and followers of the series. Less good for: the script is very weak and the dialogue is predictable. The characters have no motivation outside the competition. Watched without 3D, it is not clear why some sequences are staged the way they are.