Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo
December. 21,1984 PGThe dance crew from "Breakin'" bands together to save a community center from a greedy developer bent on building a shopping center in its place.
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Reviews
Too much of everything
It is a performances centric movie
everything you have heard about this movie is true.
A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
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!
First off, I am a huge fan of booga-loo shrimp and also of adolfo shabba-do. I especially loved the first one when he danced with that rag on a string. I saw the first breakin in the theatre when it first came out and I almost had a hernia it was so good.By the way, I have top secret, hush-hush, information that a certain movie company WAS planning on a big sequel to Breakin 2 to celebrate the millenia. It was going to be called "Breakin 3: Breakin Free!" In pt. 3, Shrimp and Adolfo would be sent to prison for crimes they DID NOT COMMIT. They gather a posse, bust outta prison, and clear their names with nothing more than their street smarts and breakin moves to aid them. Meanwhile, outside, their white gal-pal rallies all the poppers and lockers in their "hood" and they have a big block party with fireworks and barbecue and parachute pants and enough funky fresh moves to make you wanna start dancin on the ceilin.I think it would have been great and I would have even gone to the theatre to see it.,
Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo serves as a perfect example of the more often than not erroneous 'bigger is better' philosophy that pervades American society. This movie, if nothing else, reminds us that more is not always more. This stinker of stinkers succeeds only in cheapening the impact of the dancing in the first movie by reducing it to an ornament for an absurd non-story.In its predecessor one can detect a tiny drop of integrity where the precepts of story forming are concerned. The conflict set up between 'street culture' and society's 'upper-crust' was less than realistic, but break dancing, as a form of urban art, was presented interestingly enough to capture my interest (I'm willing to forgive a lot for the sake of entertainment). The dynamic dance moves were just enough to suspend not disbelief, but dismissal of the ridiculous. In Boogaloo, that hint, that tiny drop of integrity became a drop of spittle on a hot iron. More thought and attention is generally given to the flushing of giant smelly turds than were given to the creation of characters, dialog, and scenarios in Boogaloo. Sam Firstenberg is no Joel Silberg. What? I'm not sure what that means myself. In fact I'm ashamed I said it.It's not difficult to see why this movie was made. It was the decade of cashing in on flashes-in-the-pan. If a teet squirts milk, then squeeze it for all it's worth, right? Breakin' 2 is nothing more than a poorly conceived advertisement for the flavor of the month. Sadly, this confusion of marketing and entertainment is not only alive and well today, it's grown into a gigantic retarded baby that's painting everything with a thick coat of mediocrity if not out and out stupidity. This is the devolution of popular culture. Art is no longer a part of the everyday.
Breakdancing is easily the funniest fad of the last 50 fifty years. There are so many hilarious moments in this movie, you will not regret renting it.The fashion is audacious. The attitudes are ridiculous. The music is silly. But above all, it's entertaining. It's a high-budget visual spectacle that merits attention.It's also a political piece. It's about rich versus poor, haves versus have-nots. Ultimately it's a testament to the will of the human spirit, be it poppin', rockin', or breakin'.Boogaloo Shrimp is an awesome character. So is Shabadoo, and don't forget Sugarfoot. Ice T proves that he was a sell-out as way back as 1984.