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All Stars – review

This article is more than 11 years old
Not even the appearance of John Barrowman can bring this formulaic family dance movie to life

Good-natured, well-meaning, but fundamentally and inescapably a bit ropey: that's really the only conclusion possible for this British urban dance movie for family audiences.

It sticks to a time-honoured formula: local youth club is going to be demolished unless the kids can raise money with a talent show. (Er, huh? Anyone over eight years, or eight months, old can see how nonsensical that is … but strict plot credibility isn't the issue.)

Theo Stevenson and Akai Osei-Mansfield do their level best as the youthful heroes, and the grownup cast includes Ashley Walters, Ashley Jensen and Hugh Dennis as, respectively, tough parent, long-suffering club director and grumpy headteacher. There are some interesting and ambitious "fantasy" sequences, including a Fred'n'Ginger dance routine with none other than John Barrowman opposite his screen daughter, played by Fleur Houdijk.

But they seem out of place with the pretty ordinary standards the film sets itself most of the time. It seems derivative and lacklustre, and really inferior to almost anything on CBBC or CITV.

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