Why so much hype?

That was an excellent one.

Fantastic!

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

This movie is freakin awesome I really like it and if you like film that feature dancing and some drama this movie is for you don't listen to the bad review of this film you watch it yourself and rate it for me Antonio is key of this film he is the star because I am a fan of Antonio Banderas I will give this 7/10 and also because this film is awesome I give it 10/10.

Pierre Dulaine (Antonio Banderas) is ballroom dance teacher with his own NYC studio. One night, he comes across Rock (Rob Brown) vandalizing his school principal Augustine James (Alfre Woodard)'s car. So he goes to the school to offer his services to Augustine. She finds his offer ridiculous and stuffs him in with the detention kids.For a movie based on a real person, this is a very unrealistic story. These kids are strictly PG. They are all misunderstood with hearts of gold. Not to mention the fact that these kids are selected from every race and color. It's the Fame kids doing Breakfast Club. The group is fun and Antonio Banderas has a good touch. Everybody is likable. It's all very corny, but enjoyable. Sometimes there's a need for that.

Are there any late 90s SNL fans out there who get the reference in my title? Chris Kattan once did a hilariously bad parody of Antonio Banderas, the idea being that Antionio is so sexy ("tooo sexy! tooo sexy! No, the bambinos!") that he can basically fondle the camera and be a hit. This film, featuring Antonio as a swave, kind-hearted, chivalrous dance instructor with impeccable taste in clothes, is the real life version of that skit. I watched this with my girlfriend, and she kept looking over to ask me if I was still heterosexual.So yeah, tons of eye candy for fans of Antonio. Dim the lights, strap on your dancing shoes, or whatever else you care to strap on (I don't even know what that means) and enjoy the film.The movie itself is an entertaining blend of gritty realism, fantasy dance, cute comedy and every highschool-misfits-enter-a-competition movie ever made. Much of it is predictable, but it packs enough pirouettes to surprise the audience once in a while. Included in this mostly-tame story are bits of crime, violence, domestic abuse and attempted rape which are convincingly done, due to the excellent acting by these mostly-unknown young actors.If you don't know, "Take the Lead" is based on the true story of Pierre Dulaine, a dance instructor who decided to take on some of the roughest schools in NYC by teaching ballroom. Much of the film is dramatized, several bits are outright manufactured, but it more or less stays true to the spirit of Pierre's work. I wish it had expounded more on the philosophy behind the method (which is beautifully explained in Antonio's monologue to the angry parents), but we still get the gist.I've read a few reviews and message board comments from people who were infuriated by the ending spectacle, and all I can say is yeah they have a point, but hey this is a movie folks. It's supposed to have some pizazz. I suppose it's the extreme blending of realism and dancing that causes the conflict. If you can go with the flow, I think you'll find it to be a fun and worthwhile flick.If you like this sort of story (highschool-misfits-enter-a-competition), I highly recommend the Japanese flick "Swing Girls" about a bunch of nerds trying to learn jazz. On the wacky side is "Kickin It Old Skool" about a bunch of middle aged nerds who never left the 80s trying to win a dance contest. There's a million of em but they never get old, do they? "Take the Lead" is more on the serious side than the others, but hey... it has Antonio Banderas. How do you say... Ahhh yesss.

Compared to other dancing and motivating movies, this was the best. I loved it because it makes a lot of sense,its simple and their is no exaggeration about the students life situations, the acting was great, it was funny as well. The movie had a lot of dancing and at the same time self esteem motivation for the students. The teacher (antonio banderas) also explained the genre of the different types of music and dancing to the students. No gang killing, pregnancy drama, or drug dealing,no continuous tiring racism remarks; they did mentioned some past problems with all of this situations in each family which help support the movie plot and save a lot of time for the movie. Their is a little drama involved, but not the kind that you get sick off hearing and crying, mushy kinda stuff. Its a "you can do it" kind of persuasive movie, either u try until u get it or don't even bother trying. The good part is that the teacher didn't get involved in the students life out side the school setting, he didn't go knocking on their parents door begging them for permission for his students to dance or butting in the students private life, like most movies do. The teacher didn't talk much about his life, he was brief and concentrated more on the students than anything else, he wasn't pushy with them either, he let them do things their way and style with no dramatic changes, like it should be in real life. I would definitely recommend people to watch this movie.