Premise - Torrance Shipman (Kirsten Dunst) take's over as captain of her successful high school cheerleading team at the start of her final year. However, new team member Missy Pantone (Eliza Dushku) informs Torrance that all the teams cheers have been stolen from an East Compton team. Torrance faces a race against time to get her team a new cheer in time for the Regional and National finals that are looming ever closer. Bring It On is a fun way to spend a couple of hours, it's certainly a film that's (very) easy on the eye. For a start you have a hot, young cast that spends the vast majority of the film in varying state's of undress. Whether it's skimpy nightwear, incredibly short cheerleading outfits or even skimpier bikini's the cast always look red hot. The cheerleading sequences are incredibly well choreographed and nicely filmed by director Peyton Reed. Bodies fly around all over the shop and the scenes are accompanied by a (mostly, 2 Unlimited?) good soundtrack. It must have been a chore to think up new ways to shoot the many similar cheering scenes, but Reed pulls it off and he gives each cheering scene a unique and fresh look. The film also has a nice line in comedy with sly digs at the institution of cheering in the initial credits sequence and peppered throughout the movie. Witness, a school that cheers for it's cheerleading team ahead of it's football team as they never win. The guy's on the cheerleading team who tease the jocks on said ever-losing football team. I also liked the standard 'irritating little brother', sure it's nothing new and normally small kids in such films irritate me to death, but this kid had some funny lines. Another nice touch was the twist on the usual genre formula. Normally in these sports/comedy/drama films the team we're focusing on are the losers and their opponents are the all conquering winners, much like 'Hardball', 'Major League', 'The Mighty Ducks' etc. However in Bring It On the roles are reversed and the team that we follow are repeat champions and their closest rivals are a new bunch of upstarts from the wrong sid of the tracks. It distances the film from the usual clichés of the genre and gives the film a bit of a fresh feel. At the end of the day though, for all it's new twist on things Bring It On does fall into the same trappings of many of the films I mentioned. Yes, it's a popcorn movie, but I tire of being forced fed obvious morals like I'm watching a rerun of a Cosby Show episode. The 'be true to yourself and everything will work out' motif is lathered on a bit thick and by the time the feel good ending swings round, frankly I was sick of it. The script, which as I said earlier can be clever and witty unfortunately feels the need to plumb the depths of cheesy and clunky dialogue. Also throw in the standard pretty girl falls for the rough-around-the-edges guy and you've got as many clichés in the film as you do unique moments. So, an enjoyable, but flawed film that does what it intends to do. It entertains the viewer for a couple of hours with scantily clad women, a nice soundtrack, a handful of laughs and some spiffy cheerleading routines. Worth a look.

6/10 for Bring It On. Poster Quote - Most of the right moves.