Tiao chu qu (2009)

Tiao chu qu: Directed by Stephen Fung. With Daniel Wu, Yuqi Zhang, Cheung-Yan Yuen, Min-Hun Fung. A farm girl (Kitty Zhang) with dreams of becoming a big time hip-hop martial arts star in the big city gets a job as a janitor at a local dance school.

“Jump is a 2009 Chinese movie thatu0026#39;s basically a tame version of u0026quot;Step Upu0026quot; meets u0026#39;Shaolin Socceru0026quot;. That sentence pretty much sums up the entire movie sufficiently enough, and I could end this review right here and just rate the thing. But, Iu0026#39;ll put in a little more effort.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSPOILERS AHEAD!u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Jumpu0026quot; stars Kitty Zhang as a country farm girl who goes to the big city to chase her dreams of becoming a hip-hop dancer. She scrounges u0026amp; scrapes, and works her ass off to blindly achieve her goal; all the while playing the naïve bumpkin with a heart of gold who couldnu0026#39;t be happier. By day, she works in a textile factory, and at night, she is the janitor of a dance studio where she picks up what moves she can by observing the dance crew while mopping the floors. She stays late at night at the dance studio to study u0026amp; practice, and she sleeps and eats whenever she can.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eStuck up rich kids who comprise the dance crew treat the country girl like dirt and make fun of her, until one day, she tires of the bullying and shows off her newfound dance moves. Then, everybody is now good friends and sheu0026#39;s welcomed in as part of the dance crew thatu0026#39;s soon set to face off against the u0026quot;evilu0026quot; Korean dance team champs. Along the way, she catches the eye of the playboy rich dude who owns the dance studio, and romance between the two is afoot. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis movie is oh so predictable, and itu0026#39;s a story thatu0026#39;s been told a thousand times before; fish out of water ugly duckling finds her calling in the bright lights of the big city while making friends and finding love. Is this version of this age old tale worth checking out?…Probably not, but you wonu0026#39;t kill yourself if you watch it.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eKitty represents herself well enough for what sheu0026#39;s asked to do. Sheu0026#39;s plays the unkempt country girl who one day blossoms into an urban beauty…as usual, itu0026#39;s pretty clear sheu0026#39;s very attractive to begin with, whether sheu0026#39;s farming in northern China or dancing on the streets of downtown Hong Kong, but apparently no one can see this until she gets the u0026quot;pretty movie makeover treatmentu0026quot;. And of course, thereu0026#39;s one scene in the movie where the rich playboy invariably takes her to a high end beauty salon u0026amp; clothier, and sheu0026#39;s instantly turned into a young goddess ready for a night on the town with the cool kids and rich people.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe rest of the cast consists of the main love interest played by Daniel Wu, her best friend from back home, her dad she left behind, the snotty dance crew who come to embrace her, and a few other people; theyu0026#39;re mostly serviceable, but Iu0026#39;ve never really quite understood the appeal of Daniel Wu. Iu0026#39;ve seen him in a ton of stuff, and heu0026#39;s never awful and doesnu0026#39;t irritate me per se, but I just donu0026#39;t see the star power that he apparently is supposed to have. Oh well, to each their own I guess. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThatu0026#39;s about it. A few more random thoughts:u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI was not really all that impressed with the dance scenes; Iu0026#39;ve seen better in other movies and any number of Asian dance/survival TV shows. That being said (written), I personally couldnu0026#39;t dance my way out of a wet paper bag, so I cannot say anything more than that about this aspect of the film.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIt took me about 1 or 2 minutes into viewing this film to say to myself, u0026quot;Hmmm, this movie seems like Stephen Chow must be involved somehowu0026quot;. Sure enough, heu0026#39;s the main credited writer, and this production clearly has all of the earmarks and undertones of his trademark approach to storytelling.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eKittyu0026#39;s character often appears to be borderline insane in her relentless positive outlook on life. Sheu0026#39;s constantly smiling ear to ear, giggling maniacally, or bouncing around like a lunatic, for 90% of the movie; it almost seems that Kitty was mandated to down a greenie/red bull/wellbutrin cocktail before each take. This is such an overwhelming facet of her character that when she spent those few moments acting on the opposite end of the spectrum, I was thinking we could easily be in for a Miike u0026quot;Auditionu0026quot; moment here (if this were a different type of movie). Now, that would have been AWESOME!u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAs it stands, this movie is definitely NOT AWESOME! Itu0026#39;s just too silly, too predictable, and not well executed or well put together. Itu0026#39;s an average movie at best. Didnu0026#39;t hate it, but canu0026#39;t ever see myself desiring to watch it again. I could see some people liking it up to a 6 or maybe a 6.5 or so, and others disliking it down to a 4 or thereabouts, but that should be about its range overall.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e5 out of 10 stars for me.”