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Robert Langdon, lead role in The Da Vinci Code, should have been played by: survey says...
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Take The Lead
by Cameron Ross 
I wanted to shred this movie. I was looking forward to laughing uproariously at this sham of a film. I even had a few lines already penned in my head, ready to make a mockery of bad dance movie lines like “Nobody puts Baby in a corner.” Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, I won’t get a chance to use any of them. Much to my surprise, Take the Lead was actually a solid movie, combining successful elements from Dangerous Minds, Save the Last Dance, and Mr. Holland’s Opus.
The storyline for the film, which is based on a true story, is as follows: Pierre Dulaine (Antonio Banderas), a dancehall instructor, witnesses a random act of violence by a student from a particular inner-city school. Pierre is inspired to approach the principal of the school and ask if he can teach the kids how to dance. Ballroom dance. Although skeptical, the principal (Alfre Woodard) relents and lets him take over a detention hall filled with the worst of the worst kids. Dulaine’s task, as he sees it, is to (a) get the kid’s attention, (b) teach the kids to dance, and (c) teach them about life, respect, and dignity. Dulaine is an optimistic gentleman, and it is his goal to impart hope, as well as manners and a mean foxtrot, to each and every kid in his classroom. His fight, and the struggle the kids must go through in and out of school, make for the foundation of a compelling story. But it won’t exactly blow your hair back, because the writing and the setups are relatively predictable and obvious. The manner in which he gains the attention of the class is a no-brainer, and the student’s resistance to him, and his foreign methodologies, is minimal. In fact, for an inner-city school that has had over ten students die in the recent years, the detention hall was downright tame. Every story requires some suspension of disbelief, but I could not get over the fact that detention at this school resembled what I imagine detention in Apple Valley looks like. In reality, in a real New York school, DMX could have walked in the door and asked to teach the waltz and the students would have given him more flak than Pierre received. One of the biggest beefs I had with the film was the ease with which he won the class over. However, that doesn’t make it a bad film. While it isn’t exactly original material, it is still interesting, and the quality cast more than make up for limitations in the storyline and script. The smooth, suave Banderas is one of the few people who could convincingly play a dance instructor who made it seem cool to waltz. And his sex appeal certainly didn’t lose him any points with the class or the administration. The other vital figure to the movie was the principal, a character that was cast equally well. Alfre Woodard has played many a badass mama in her day, including the no-nonsense mother of Isiah Thomas and essentially the same character in Crooklyn, so her role as a street smart, stern principal was incredibly believable. It is to the actors, who doubled as spectacular dancers, that credit is due for this film. They took a porous story and a shoddy script and sold it pretty well. This is much harder than it seems. Instead of filling out the cast with great dancers, they managed to find a group of experienced actors who happened to be talented dancers as well. Usually, the downfall of a dance movie is the delivery of lines, as the actors seem like they graduated with honors from the Keanu Reeves school of acting. But not this group. The group of students in detention included Rob Brown (who played the lead character from Finding Forrester), Dante Basco (played Rufio in Hook), and Marcus T. Paulk (from Moesha and Roll Bounce) to name a few. Take the Lead doesn’t break any new ground on the “poor kid’s struggling to make it” front, but it has way more depth than your average dance movie. This story was about more than learning to tap your foot in time with the beat; it was about taking the lead in your life, as well as on the dance floor. On a strictly storyline basis, this film can’t compete with Dangerous Minds and Stand and Deliver, but those movies didn’t have the hottest, funkiest, hip-hop infused version of the tango you have ever seen. It is extremely difficult to watch this movie and keep from tapping you foot, bobbing your head, and considering taking salsa lessons as soon as the credits roll. The soundtrack is superb, featuring a mashup of Q-Tip from A Tribe Called Quest and Lena Horne, Sly and the Family Stone, The Black Eyed Peas, and Rhymefest. Had this movie been condensed to simply a music video, it would more than pass muster. Take the Lead is not an earth-shattering movie, nor is it groundbreaking in any way, but is fun to watch. There are few, if any, parts that make you groan, and given the high quality of music and dancing, a slightly above average story is more than you can ask for. On a scale of 1-10, I give Take the Lead receives 6.5 Dome Dogs. 
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