Battle of the Year (2013)
Average Rating: 3.5/10
Reviews Counted: 42
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 40
With a hopelessly hokey plot and unintentionally hilarious dialogue, Battle of the Year is flimsy even by the standards of the dance movie genre.
Average Rating: 3.6/10
Critic Reviews: 18
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 16
With a hopelessly hokey plot and unintentionally hilarious dialogue, Battle of the Year is flimsy even by the standards of the dance movie genre.
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Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 10,201
Movie Info
Battle of the Year is an international dance crew tournament that attracts all the best teams from around the world, but the Americans haven't won in fifteen years. Los Angeles Hip Hop mogul Dante (Alonso) wants to put the country that started the Sport back on top. He enlists his hard-luck friend Blake (Holloway), who was a championship basketball coach, to coach his team. Armed with the theory that the right coach can make any team champions, they assemble a Dream Team of all the best dancers
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Battle of the Year Trailer & Photos
All Critics (42) | Top Critics (18) | Fresh (2) | Rotten (40)
its dramatization of a U.S. dream team's journey to the international showcase is leaden with predictable character types and storytelling clichés, neither of which its well-executed but oddly infrequent dance sequences are able to overcome.
Top CriticThe actual dancing scenes are occasionally electrifying, if far too sparse, but other than that and the welcome sight of co-star Chris Brown getting clocked in the face, the film barely gets off the ground, much less sticks the landing.
A dead-in-the-soul cash grab of a movie set in the competitive world of B-boy dancing that thinks clichés, phony melodrama and product placement can substitute for real storytelling and actual characters.
Should satisfy the planet of b-boys and girls to whom it thoroughly preaches, while amusing anyone else who simply can't ignore the promise of an all-corn buffet.
The 3-D is a pain, and the excitable editing, slo-mo and speeded-up action frustrate attempts to watch the athleticism on display ...
The miracle of the new 3-D dance film "Battle of the Year" is how it can be so relentlessly boring while there is so much frenetic activity on screen.
Like those it imitates, the film includes some energetic dance sequences and formulaic plotting that culminate in the obligatory final competition.
If director Werner Herzog can do it with 'Rescue Dawn' and 'Little Dieter Needs to Fly,' why can't director Benson Lee?
In particular, as mentioned, the dance sequences are a mess, which is the kiss of death for a film in this genre.
Battle of the Year is no Step Up 3D. But then, what is?
Filled with fancy, if frenetic footwork but weighed down by all-too-familiar plot/characters/dialogue.
Athletic dancing and a patriotic theme make this movie better than it should be.
Introduce female choreographer. Explore misogyny for 15 seconds. Become uncomfortable with ideas. Disappear female choreographer.
After months of patient waiting, 2013 has finally produced a movie that's so bad it's good.
Everything else in this pedestrian dance drama is either absurdly corny or just plain moronic, though the feature does win points for being so earnest with its hopeless pile of clichés.
Eschewing shaded characterization and often basic sense, while establishing what should be the high-water mark for most crotch-grabbing in a single film in 2013.
There's not nearly enough quality material to make Battle of the Year recommendable to anyone other than the most hard-core of dance fanatics.
The bar for urban-flavoured dance movies has already been set pretty low, but Battle Of The Year effortlessly leans back and limbos on below it.
Passable drama has great dancers but no originality.
Battle of the Year clearly features lots of brilliant dancers, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy watching them move. But you wish there were more dancing here.
The movie's inability to showcase its greatest asset, the grace and control of its dancers, is its most conspicuous failing.
Audience Reviews for Battle of the Year
With loads of horrific exposition, hilariously unnecessary reaction shots, and spoon-feeding the audience every little bit of story and character development imaginable, 'Battle of the Year' is hardly impressive filmmaking. That being said, one doesn't go to a 'Fast and the Furious' movie for the drama and you certainly wouldn't go to this for the story. This is all about cute guys dancing and dammit they're really good at it so the movie at least has that going for it.
My biggest regret though is that they never go forward with the cheesy plot twist that you'll expect to happen from the very beginning! Here's hoping Franklyn (with a y!) gets to step up in the sequel...
Discussion Forum
| Topic | Last Post | Replies |
|---|---|---|
| Tomatometer? | 12 days ago | 21 |
| Chris Brown is so likable | 14 days ago | 8 |
| People Pay to See Shit Like This? | 12 days ago | 1 |
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Foreign Titles
- Battle of the Year: The Dream Team (DE)
- Battle of the Year: The Dream Team (UK)
