DVD Review: Bring It On: In It To Win It

Southern California high school senior Carson arrives at the all-important “Cheer Camp Nationals” determined to lead her squad, the West High Sharks, to victory. But chic New Yorker Brooke and her team, the East High Jets, are equally steadfast in their pursuit of the competition’s coveted “Spirit Stick.” As tension mounts between the two rival squads, Carson falls for fellow cheerleader Penn, not realizing he’s a Jet. When Brooke discovers the budding romance, she raises the stakes by challenging Carson to a one-on-one cheer-off. A spectacular “cheer fighting” sequence erupts into a no-holds-barred brawl and cheerleaders on both sides are suspended from the competition. With their dreams of taking home the top prize all but shattered, the leaders of both squads realize they’ll have to take drastic measures to stay in the game.

Review:
The 4th installment of Bring It On is pretty much what you expect it to be. A little corny, a little cute, a little crazy, and a whole lot of dancing/cheering. While this movie will probably ink itself into the favorites list belonging to young teens across the country, if you’re outside of that age bracket, this won’t be a title that appeals to you.

I appreciate movies that are realistic, or make the unrealistic seem realistic. This is what is apart of good film making in my book. With that being said, there is no way that I can think of that teenagers solve their problems with a well organized and choreographed dance-off… outside of a musical that is. Bring It On: In It To Win It is not a musical. The film sets itself at Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida. For those of you that haven’t been to these parks, they are home to some of the most memorable theme park rides in the country. Including the much outdated JAWS ride, which makes a brief appearance in this movie as the two of the main characters seem to have sneaked into the park after dark and have gone strolling through the off-limit areas of the ride in order to share their darkest secrets among that other awkward moment that always presents itself in teen flicks, the first kiss.

These are just two of the many examples I could list of areas of the films that I had issues with. So aside from multiple non-realistic moments that this film presents the script also lacks any chance to offer the actors to commit to their roles. I have to note that the actors in this film are of a new era, I have no doubt in my mind that we will be seeing more of Ashley Benson, Michael Copon, and Cassie Scerbo. I wished their roles would have been more challenging for them, but it is what it is.

One thing I did like about this DVD was all the special features. There’s a decent amount of extras featuring behind the scene looks, dancing how-to’s, and a fair amount of deleted scenes.

I haven’t seen the other Bring It On films aside from the first one and this one, so I’m not entirely sure how #4 compares to the second and third film, but I can tell you that we’ve come a long way from the cheering days of Ms. Kirsten Dunst and Eliza Dushku.

Review by Emma Loggins

Grade: C+
Official site: http://www.bringitonmovie.com/
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