Jump

When the US started making contemporary hip-hop dance flicks, China and Hong Kong were quick to follow. Stephen Fung was a good fit for this type of film, not in the least because China loves to infuse a little martial arts into its dance routines. The result is a pretty basic and predictable genre film, with some nice dance scenes near the end.

Kitty is a true county bumpkin who dreams of making it big as a dancer in the city. Her father trained her in martial arts, but supports her dream and sends her off. Kitty gets lucky and lands a job as a janitor in a dance school. The other members regularly make fun of her, until they find out how skilled she is. They ask her to join their clique, but romantic woes stand in the way of success.

Jump sticks very closely to genre conventions. The country girl in the big city clichés are everywhere, so is the "work hard and you'll make it" message. There's a bit of romance, some drama, though always dominated by a lighter mood, as to make sure you won't doubt for a second everything will turn out okay for Kitty. The dance routines do look pretty cool though, other than that it's decent but very basic filler.