forrestwrs There is one huge problem with Stomp the Yard that starts with the premise: this is a drama with dancing. It is very, very rare to find a movie that can successfully incorporate dancing with drama. In fact, I know of only one film that did this successfully--West Side Story, which is not a film about dancing. I'm not saying dancing can't be dramatic. I'm saying dancing can't be the solution to some of the problems our protagonist has in this film. In the first ten minutes of the film, the audience is subjected to some horrendous melodrama involving the protagonist's brother being shot for winning a dancing competition.Yeah, bottom line, this movie is stupid. There's a lot of melodrama that really doesn't go anywhere and some dialogue that was just plain awful. The biggest problem with this movie is that it feels like it *has* to manufacture melodrama in order for the film to work. I have a theory about drama: drama should not be a tool used by a director to tell a story. The drama should also not be the story. Drama should just happen. For instance, there are a lot of reasons why a young man might move away from his mother to live with his aunt. For the filmmakers to say "Let's just shoot his brother," is a little low. It just puts a lot of unnecessary fabricated emotion into a plot that does not revolve around people being shot. Why did the filmmakers have to kill his brother? Why couldn't there have been inner drama for the lead character to deal with? Instead, they took the cowardly and easy way out. It's a pointless way to move a story along. And we're only ten minutes into the movie.The rest of the movie is a lot like that. People hate DJ for "having a record," and DJ does very little to establish himself as a likable character.Clichéd and overly melodramatic, this is not a film I would recommend. The dance numbers are relatively cool, but they're not worth sitting through the rest of the picture for.1/10

Eyahf_21 Another typical dance-musical movie, there's the drama and romance of course.At first, I found the choreography unfussy and nothing unique. On the later part, I found the Step moves extra ordinary and brilliant combination.I came to noticed that When Chris Brown was shot, nobody was there to console except for he's brother. I mean why does they're crew mate gone.I found no chemistry between Meagan and Columbus but as individual, they did well. Chris Brown performance in this film was notable. Ne-Yo was a good supporting cast.The cinematography and music were not bad, so-so.I found the climax notable because of the emotion divulges and he finally took responsible for his mistake in the past that result to the death of his younger brother. The ending was quite predictable besides of winning the competition he finally learns to think not only himself or his pride but also for the sake and success of his team. VERDICT:The story was typical, same old drama and romantically involved. Street dancers got into trouble, riot with other crew. Brother's friendship, younger brother dies.It reminded me of those dance flick movie such as you got served and drum line.However, still this movie was exceptional because the writers showed On how the guy changes his life by making best decision in life. On how he prevails over he's pride. That beyond the rivalry and competition, he pledge to the fraternity of a lifetime. That beyond the tradition, what matter is how the brotherhood helps each other to become a better man:+++

Byg Hoss This was by far one of the worst films I've ever seen. It didn't do anything to explain or detail the history of stepping on HBCU's nor did it give and accurate display of stepping. If you wanted to do another dance movie then by all means do one but don't take a tradition like stepping and try to make it commercial and sell it to the masses. You are just not displaying an accurate picture of what it's all about. If you want to see another dance movie like You Got Served then go watch this. If you want to learn about stepping and what it's all about go to your nearest HBCU and catch a step show. They have all the major fraternities on display.

Anthony A I just recently watched this movie and I actually have to say, I was a bit impressed. I went into this movie with low expectations, assuming it would be pretty bad. However, that wasn't the case at all! The movie is surprisingly pretty good. The movie has a good soundtrack and some pretty awesome dance sequences that make you want to get up and dance. The acting is pretty good as well considering they're all pretty much dancers/musicians. The story line keeps you interested, yes it is a bit predictable at times, but most of these type of films are. This film has a little bit of everything in it, good plot, conflict, romance, comedy, drama. If you enjoy films of all types, I would recommend this movie to you. The movie does a good job of showing us the tradition of stepping while adding an inspirational feel. Showing a young African American go from having his brother killed on the streets to making a name for he and his partners at the collegiate level. Solid film, with some great dance sequences. Sad that it is sitting on a 3.2 rating.