Bring It on in It to Win It

"Bring It On: In It To Win It" is the fourth of these competitive cheerleader flicks to come down the pike in the past seven years, and either it is going to be the last or somebody is going to make it their personal mission in life to make sure the franchise finds a better end than this 2007 direct to video offering. One thing for sure: each of these films makes the original look better, and every time they try to come up with another cheer routine laden with irony and caustic wit it always pales in comparison with the opening bit of the original "Bring It On." Since it is assumed that you are checking out this movie because you liked the original (and perhaps one or more of the others in the series), such comparisons are inevitable as is the inevitable judgment that this is an inferior product.

You know that the end of the movie is going to be the big competition, so the goal is to set up as much conflict before the inevitable final battle before the cheering crowds and other competitors. That would be the Sharks, the red dressed team from the left coast captained by Carson (Ashley Benson), versus the Jets, the East Coast team decked out in blue led by Brooke (Cassie Scerbo). The Jets finished first and the Sharks second at the previous championship, so the groups hate each other. As you might suspect from their team names, the two teams end up facing off on the street, throwing around as much attitude and twists as they can before learning there is a reason cheerleaders do their routines on padded mats. With half of each team out of commission, Carson and Brooke have to find a way to work together or they are not going to go out as winners. There are additional layers of complications because Carson is smitten with Penn (Michael Copon), who, of course, is a Jet (I bet somebody out there is going to YouTube a montage of Carson and Penn to "A Boy Like That" from "West Side Story"; actually, most any song from that musical could be played against scenes from this film). If that is not enough adolescent angst, Penn has been lying to his parents about where he is spending his summer.

Then there is the curse of the spirit stick.

I round up on "Bring It On: In It To Win It" because when we finally get to the last act you get to see some competitive cheerleading routines, and since these are actual human beings doing all of this stuff I am always impressed. I know next to nothing about such cheerleading competitions, but like many of us I can fall back on the idea "I could never do that in a million years" and be allowed a small measure of awe. A lot of what is in this film is more miss than hit: for example, the semi-Goth cheerleader has her moments but the idea that not one but two of her teammates would confess to putting up fronts to be their particular stereotypes strikes me as too much. But that is to be expected from a franchise that is now at the point where the name of the game is to count things off by the numbers, from the nightmare cheerleading sequences at the start to the cast lip-synching to a song during the closing credits. Lower your expectations going in to this one and you will have a better chance of coming out ahead.

Okay, so many of you who are going to see this movie will have no idea that it is a ripoff of a far superior movie musical, "West Side Story." Yes, the Jets and the Sharks, which are rival gangs in West Side Story, are now rival cheerleading teams. And there is even a romantic triangle between the Jets and the Sharks. But, this is as close to a good movie as the fourth "Bring it on" movie gets. The dialogue in this series of movies has gone from bad to awful. And then, there's the rivalry between the two cheerleading teams. You would think that the finale of the movie would involve the Jets and Sharks fighting for a cheerleading title. But, no... instead, well... you be the judge whether the ending was a good idea. Having an antagonist at the end of the movie who you rarely see until that point kind of made the ending anti-climactic.

Now, the bits about the curse of the cheer stick were at times funny, all the characters are nice to look at, but the film was all fluff, no substance. Skip this one!

This is a great movie. I like the way it shows the importance of working together as a team so that both chearleading tems can compete as one to win. It also shows the importance of beliving in yourself and not in luck or curses if you want to accomplish something.
Which is what Carson has to learn to trust herself and that she is good enough and that curse or no curse if she does her best she is good enough to win. The jets and shark have to play of each others streangths to off set each others weaknesses. They have to learn to get along and let the differences go if they want to win. I recommand this movie to anyone. Especially if you liked any of the other bring it on movies. They are all good. If all of the i like this one the best.
Another one you may loike that falls in this catagory is
Man of the House ~ Tommy Lee Jones, Cedric the Entertainer, and Christina Milian (DVD - 2005). Another Movie i highly recomend it is funny.

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