Take the LeadMovie Reviews

So-so

Avg. Critic Score: 55 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore^® based on all critic reviews

Information for Parents:

Iffy for 13+

Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

75

New York Daily News | Jami Bernard
Take the Lead hits all the marks you'd expect of a movie like this, but it's done vibrantly and with warm-blooded characters. Read full review
75

TV Guide | Maitland McDonagh
Though screenwriter Dianne Houston spent time observing the real-life Dulaine, her screenplay is a showcase for triumph-of-the-underdog sports-movie cliches and coming-of-age-through-adversity moral lessons. Read full review
75

Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert
Antonio Banderas is reason enough to see the movie. Read full review
63

Rolling Stone | Peter Travers
Inspired by a true story (translation: a lot of it is made up), the movie shucks its corn straight from the cob. But it's no less engaging for that, thanks to the enthusiasm of the young cast and the fusion of classic dance with hip-hop moves courtesy of Rich and Tone Talauega. Read full review
63

Philadelphia Inquirer | Carrie Rickey
At one point, Dulaine takes the students to his studio and they look up at the mirrored disco ball glittering above the dance floor. "Corny, but cool," says one of the sweathogs. My feelings about the film precisely. Read full review
63

USA Today | Claudia Puig
The movie's best moments are between Banderas and the kids. When the plot shifts to reveal the students' back stories (one has a prostitute mother, another a drunken father), the story becomes a melodramatic rehash of other movies, like "Fame" or "Rent." Read full review
60

The Hollywood Reporter | Michael Rechtshaffen
Things hold together longer than they would have without Banderas' commanding, committed performance. Read full review
50

Boston Globe | Wesley Morris
The movie partners all the cliches of the inner-city school drama with the cliches of the dance instructional, and the two keep stomping on each other's toes. Read full review
50

San Francisco Chronicle | Ruthe Stein
An energetic young cast, consisting of a mix of professional dancers and actors who do convincing imitations of Arthur Murray graduates, is positively inspired in numbers combining traditional ballroom steps with hip-hop. Read full review
33

Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman
Antonio Banderas is a charming and talented man, but in Take the Lead he lays on the old-world panache so thick - the accent, the flowery courtliness, the romance of romance - that he comes off like Dracula's metrosexual cousin. Read full review

Metacritic link View more reviews for Take the Lead on Metacritic

Information for Parents

Common Sense Media says Iffy for 13+ NYC high schoolers saved by ballroom dancing.

What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this film includes some images of violence, as well as references to painful past deaths (two kids' siblings were killed in gang violence). A frustrated boy smashes his principal's car with a bar; a gun is drawn near the film's end, and a crew who deals drugs and stolen materials beats up their reluctant member (some blood visible on his face, as he finally makes it to the ballroom competition). The dancing is sometimes very formal, often very sexualized (especially the tango, salsa, and hip-hop moves). Characters deal drugs, threaten violence, smoke cigarettes, and drink.

Families can talk about the options available for the dance students. How might their dance training help them in other aspects of their lives (getting a job, looking after children and parents, continuing their educations)? How does the film set up a connection between their home-life conflicts and their work in the dance class?

The good stuff

Positive messages: Kids fight, resist authority, behave sullenly in repsonse to dance teacher's entreaties; teacher's bicycle is stolen (and at film's end, replaced); kids learn mutual respect; widowed teacher learns to open his heart to romance.

What to watch for

Violence: Movie includes several violent scenes, including an opening fistfight at a high school dance; an attack on a car with a bar; boy pulls a gun at the end and is beaten by his angry crew (slightly bloody imagery here).
Sexy stuff: Dancing is often sexualized (especially tango, salsa, and some hip-hop styles); an older man tries to seduce his girlfriend's adolescent daughter; romantic kissing by featured high school couple; the sight of an interracial couple dancing upsets white girl's mother.
Language: Mild language by kids and also by the principal (dance teacher is very proper): one f-word; a couple of uses of s-word, "hell," and "damn," plus gender/sexual slang ("punk ass," "p---y," "ass") and other colorful phrasing ("screwed up," "I suck").
Consumerism: Not an issue
Drinking, drugs and smoking: One boy's parents are alcoholics; another deals drugs; reference to "crack dealer."

Common Sense Media An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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