The Red Shoes: Next Step (2023)

"Sam" (Juliet Doherty) is about to take the stage at the renowned "Harlow" ballet stage for her first leading solo when her sister - another accomplished dancer - whom she is chatting to on the phone steps out in front of a car. Needless to say, this is pretty devastating and turns this girl into a bored and rudderless character who hangs out with her friend "Eve" (Lauren Esposito) and engages in petty crime. Her parents are at their wits end, so they get her a cleaning job at the ballet school. The rest of this is all very predictable, but when there is some actual dancing - especially with her athletic leading man 'Ben" (Joel Burke) - then this film actually comes alive a bit. The use of the classical score also sounds great with cinema audio and the photography of the routines is genuinely quite stylishly effective. Thing is, there is nowhere near enough dancing and the loosest of connections with the original "Red Shoes" story is underplayed and tangential in the extreme. For the most part this is a rather plodding melodrama with a cast of mediocre acting talent delivering a wishy washy family drama. It's the second film in as many days that I've seen in a cinema by myself - and whilst it's not that bad, it did make me wonder why it got a cinema release at all.