A group of determined and resourceful break dancers band together to stop an evil greedy developer (an admirably sincere performance by Peter MacLean) from demolishing a local community center in East Los Angeles.

Director Sam Firstenberg brings an infectiously cheerful vitality to the silly shopworn premise: The abundance of tremendous joy and vibrancy evident from start to finish is impossible to either resist or dislike, plus it's an absolute hoot to see cops, nurses, doctors, little kids, and even construction workers poppin' and lockin' for all it's worth. Delightfully inane highlights include a frantic dance off between rival break dancing gangs, a hysterical dance sequence set in a hospital, and one guy dancing all over the walls and the ceiling.

Moreover, Lucinda Dickey, Adolfo "Shabba-Doo" Quinones, and Michael "Boogaloo Shrimp" Chambers make for very likeable and appealing leads. In addition, rapper Ice-T growls out a couple of songs. The outrageous 80's clothes and hairstyles give this film a certain gnarly period charm. Super funky pulsating soundtrack, too. A total blast.

A while back, my youngest daughter was telling me how awful she thought fashions were back in the 1980s. Well, I am certainly NOT going to tell her about this film--otherwise she'll never let me forget about this! It features the worst clothing, highly infectious and repetitive music (while not bad at first, it makes your brain melt a bit after a while) and the most inane qualities in a film of the era. It's bad...really, really bad. See the hospital dance scene and the Combat Dance portions and you'll understand.

"Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo" is a film with very, very little plot. Mostly, it's one dance number after another after another. Sometimes the dances are incredible (such as the athleticism of the break dancing)--but much of it is just stupid. To make it worse, their clothing consists of one fashion travesty after another. And, they repeatedly use the word 'whack'---need I say more?! Because the film is essentially just dancing, little was left for decent dialog (it often is VERY bad and the characters are mere caricatures). As for the plot, believe it or not, is a re-tread of an old Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland film. I am not kidding. The 'kids' are about to lose their clubhouse, so they decide to put on a show to raise the funds to fix it up and keep the city from giving it to evil developers. There also is the brilliant rich girl who chooses to hang out on the street and dance instead of heading to Princeton (now THAT'S a good idea). To some, this movie is definitely a bit of nostalgia but for most, it is a chance to laugh hysterically at the silliness of 1984. See it and you'll understand what I am talking about...for sure.

By the way, while impressive to see, the dancing up the walls and ceiling bit was actually taken from a Fred Astaire film. In both cases, the room could be rotated to make it appear as if the dancer is defying gravity. Also, look for a very young and skinny Ice-T as the rapper with the big shades at about halfway through the film. He's the guy breaking the record. He also sings a rap late in the film. And, listen to the 'Mexican' girl--with a horribly dubbed voice that sounds like a 6 year-old!

Rich girl Kelly Bennett is now a chorus dancer after the close of Street Jazz. She and Ozone are together and his ex Rhonda is jealous. Turbo falls for Latina dancer Lucia. Ozone and Turbo are teaching street dancing to the kids. Byron runs local community center Miracles where they hang out. Developer Douglas is trying to tear it down and build a shopping center. Sleazy minion Randall pushes the local government to tear it down. The dance trio defeats the Electros in a dance off. The community has to battle the developer to save their Miracles.

I don't remember Kelly having a rich family in the first movie. I guess it's possible that she was being independent working in that diner. It looks more like a manufactured class conflict between Kelly and her street life. This time around, the movie is asking more acting from the group and it's met with varying results. Kelly and Ozone have no real romantic chemistry. It double-downs on the first movie's little crush and the actors struggle to have any heat. It's cute to have love sick Turbo and he has one of the best upside down dance sequences ever. They recreate that shack so well that it's almost a perfect transition between the real world shack and the rotating one. The only truly awkward transition happens when Lucia walks into the room. She's stuck to the wall when Turbo is dancing upside down. This sequel is a cheesier effort highlighted by that one awesome dance sequence and a sequel title for the history books. Ice-T does return to do more rapping.