Take a little bit of “Dangerous Minds,” mix it with “Mad Hot Ballroom” and throw in a bit of “Save the Last Dance” combine all of that with any inspirational film “based on a true story” ever made and you’ll have “Take the Lead,” the newest dance/underdog-rises-above film to hit the box office.

Antonio Banderas stars as Pierre Dulaine, a professional ballroom dance instructor, who teaches upper class white kids the fox trot at his dance studio on the upper west side.

After witnessing a kid vandalizing his high school principal’s car, Pierre decides to pay a visit to the school. A meeting with the principal, Ms. James (Alfre Woodard), reveals that the New York City public school has a history of troubled teens. A wall in the principal’s office is lined with photos of students who have died during her tenure at the school. Pierre volunteers his services as a dance instructor, saying that he thinks he can teach the kids a thing or two.

Ms. James initially laughs off the idea, but soon realizes that the school is in desperate need of someone to “babysit” the kids in long-term detention. These kids are the worst of the worst at the school. They are in detention for the rest of the term, and no faculty member wants to be in there with them.
Of course the kids want nothing to do with Pierre’s stuffy dance style, but when he threatens to blare the music of George and Ira Gershwin throughout the after school session they suddenly find the motivation to learn from him.

He teaches the kids about ballroom, the kids teach him about hip-hop and a new hybrid dance style is born. (Oh and the kids learn about self respect, hard work and the like). The kids get so pumped up by what they have learned that they decide to enter an upcoming ballroom dance competition that is traditionally limited to Pierre’s rich kid students.

The kids take the competition by storm and the stiff white people learn to boogey alongside the black and latin students.

Ok, so I know I made it sound kind of cheesy, and in many ways it is. But, it was also a lot of fun. The movie made me want to go out and take dance lessons when it was over. There are definitely parts of it that I found highly implausible. Like, how easily Pierre was able to convince the students to participate. Sure there was a bit of a struggle, but not as much as I would bet there really would have been. The true story this film was based on was actually about elementary school kids, not high schoolers, but it’s a lot more fun to watch high schoolers now isn’t it?

I also had a hard time believing the part at the end of the film when the poor kids take over the dance floor with their hip-hop moves and the 60 year old upper west siders with a passion for ballroom get into it.

Ok, so take all the far fetched elements out of the story...it’s still a good movie with a solid cast. Yaya DaCosta from “America’s Next Top Model” shows off her acting chops as LaRhetta, a girl trying to make something of herself despite having no father, a dead brother and a prostitute for a mother. Rob Brown (“Finding Forrester” and “Coach Carter”) plays Rock. Apparently his brother, who also died, was involved with LaRhetta’s in some bad stuff (drugs and violence) so their is a strong hatred between the two. Rock’s parents are alcoholics, and his only reason for staying in school is to get as far away from his situation as possible.

The dancing is incredible (some of the best I’ve seen in a movie), and had the whole theater clapping during the tango. It’s a fun flick that can be watched again and again.

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