BREAKIN' II: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO - Ridiculously fantastic!

Golan and Globus must have know the potential of their breakdancing extravaganza Breakin' even before the first print un-spooled at the metroplexes of the eighties, since right in the credits, there was the promise of a sequel. And lo - less than a year later, The Cannon Group gave birth to the most recognizable and parodied titles in cinema history - Breakin' II: Electric Boogaloo.

Remember when in the review for the first Breakin' how I said that the plot was not much more complex than those Mickey Rooney "Lets put on a show and save the orphanage" movies from the thirties and forties? Well, guess what! This time out, they really DO put on a show to save the orphanage! (Ok, it's really the local community center, but the difference is purely cosmetic).

We open with Ozone, Kelly and Turbo just a few short months after the triumphant victory at the climatic Dance Off from Breakin'. Ozone and Turbo are now spending time at the local youth center teaching dance to the youngsters while Kelly is in Paris, France, on the road with a dance troupe.

However, things aren&#146t perfect in BreakinWorld, as the Forces of Evil conspire to turn the community center into a strip mall/apartment complex/condo block. Now it's up to our heroic dancing trio to thwart The Man, unite the community and save the youth center through the power of DANCE!

For the sequel, Golan and Globus brought in long running Cannon director Sam Firstenberg, the man behind American Ninja, American Ninja 2: The Confrontation, American Samurai, Delta Force 3 and Revenge of the Ninja - who, despite having no Ninja or Samuari to work with, did a pretty good job. In fact, I'd be so bold as to say that Electric Boogaloo is better than the original Breakin' (and no, I'm not going to addend that comment with "not that such a feat would be that hard to do, either!")

However, lets get this right out of the way at the start - Breakin' 2 has the exact same problems that the first one does: about twenty pages of plot to fill up an entire script, stock villains sent up straight from Central Casting and acting that while passable isn't all that stellar. Additionally, we have an awkward love triangle subplot added into the mix that the first film so thankfully avoided. If you didn&#146t like the first one, then you probably won't like the second one.

Okay - that's the bad news. The good news is that Breakin' 2 gets everything that the first film got right, and then a little bit more. We get more of the optimistic idealism that was the core of Breakin' (always a good thing), and the dance choreography is elevated to the next level. Hands down one of the best numbers of the movie is a solo scene with Turbo practicing in his garage studio when suddenly he channels the spirit of Gene Kelly and with no explanation begins dancing on wall, then the ceiling, then the other wall before returning to the floor and gravity's embrace. It's a really surreal, really cool moment and a very nice nod to the dancing greats of old.

The vibe of the old school musicals doesn't stop there - towards the opening, we get Ozone dancing down the street, with his infectious energy boiling over to the passers by, and soon mailmen, cops, firemen and old people walking their dogs are suddenly caught up in a huge dance number. Or later on, in the hospital, patients in wheelchairs and on crutches get the urge to get up and boogie while a quartet of Hawtie nurses suddenly appear out of nowhere join in the choreography.

It's a world where the Power of Dance can stop bulldozers, save the children, heal the sick and when Ozone, Turbo and Kelly have a Dance-off against the Evil Breakdancers, they of course come around and join our heroes in the struggle against The Man at the end of the film.

It doesn't sound like a bad place to live, does it?

The acting this time around - well, it's pretty much the same level as before. Lucinda, Boogaloo and Shabba-Doo all seem more comfortable in front of the camera, giving them at least a more natural performance, if not a more convincing one. And of course the dancing is top shelf stuff. We get some more character development this time around, Kelly has some rich parents, who are shocked to see their daughter throw her life away street dancing instead performing in Paris, Turbo discovers that his love for a cute Hispanic lady may be just as important to him as the dancing and Ozone gets the introspective "You don't understand the streets, and you don't understand me" moments.

Breakin' and its sequel are first and foremost a time capsule of the eighties, a snapshot of an era with loud colors and big hair. However, I'll put forth that these movies could only have been made back in the day - they simply wouldn&#146t work now. We as a viewing audience have become too cynical self-conscious to simply cut loose and enjoy a fluffy feel-good, fun-loving musical with a charming cast, wonderful dance numbers, and a positive message about believing in yourself and believing in your dreams.

Oh and the subtitle? Electric boogaloo is a style of funk dance and street dance that uses fluid leg-oriented style danced to funk music, utilizing rolls of the hips, knees and head, which was later combined with the popping technique. In 1977, it became the signature style of the dance group the Electric Boogaloos, a group that popularized popping and many of its related styles. Hah - bet you never though this would be a source of breakdancing history, did you?

THE DVD -
The DVD is presented in a full frame format - but it's not pan and scan. As I understand it, most of the Cannon films in the eighties were shot open-matte format and cropped down to widescreen for release. So of course I'd prefer a widescreen anamorphic print, at least we're not losing any information from the sides - critical to a movie that has choreography featured so prominently.

THE EXTRAS -
Sadly, the only extra is just the theatrical trailer. There is a box set with both Breakin' movies and Beat Street that comes with a fourth disc full of documentaries and whatnot - but the set came out after the individual releases, so I don't have that and cant tell you anything more about it other than it exists.

THE BOTTOM LINE -
Golan and Globus split up not too long after this and the Cannon Group quietly dissolved. But even as Chuck's mighty guns fell silent and the Ninja vanished back into the night, you have to admit that they were successful. Golan and Globus dominated popular entertainment for a decade, providing a hell of a lot of people with escapist entertainment during the eighties. If you were around at all during the Regan years, then odds are you saw at least one Cannon movie in the theaters.

That's a legacy that a lot of people would give their right arm for.