Bring It On: Fight to the Finish (DVD)

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"Bring It On" starred Kirsten Dunst and Eliza Dushku and in 2000, the film nearly $70 million domestically. Dunst was a rising star, but "Bring It On" only made her star shine brighter before starring in "Spider-Man" two years later. The film was not well received by critics, but clearly showed there was an interest in cheerleading movies as "Bring It On" has now seen four direct-to-video sequels released. The films speak largely to female teenagers who enjoy watching strong female characters cheer in All-Star squads. Each of the sequels have taken place in their own little universe where there is no connection to previous films and none of the sequels have been received warmly, but "Bring It On" continues with "Fight to the Finish" and I´m guessing this won´t be the finish of the series.

R&B artist Christina Milian is the second Jersey girl to star in a "Bring It On" film after Kirsten Dunst starred in the original film. Milian previously had lead roles in the horror film "Pulse" and the made-for-television film "Snowglobe." Milian has had some success as a recording artist, but has always wanted to be an actress and with her role in "Bring It On: Fight to the Finish," I´m not so sure the Latino actress is going to have much more success as an actress. As lead character Lina Cruz, Milian plays a self-centered cheerleading captain that finds herself uprooted to Beverly Hills when her mother marries a wealthy widow with a daughter, Skyler (Holland Roden) who is an aspiring cheerleader as well. Lina first gives Skyler an attitude that she is better than the red-haired girl, but eventually finds a sister-ship with her step sister.

With every "Bring It On," film the major plot line is that an underdog team of cheerleaders must rise against the odds and take on the favored "All-Star" cheerleaders to win the championship. This plot never changes and this time the favored team is led by the lovely and snobbish Avery (Rachele Brooke Smith). Avery was snubbed by Skyler´s cheer team the Sea Lions as their captain and she formed her own team and became the best cheerleading team in Beverly Hills. A small subplot in the film deals with Lina falling into a romantic relationship with Avery´s brother Evan (Cody Longo), but that lends very little to the film and Longo is decent in his direct-to-video performance. Avery is your typical rich girl snob and nails the stereotype well.

There is plenty of cheerleading as the Sea Lions hope to dethrone Avery´s Jaguars. The film has a definitive Latino-centric storyline and is filled with dance sequences featuring Latino dancers and another subplot finds Lina bringing in cheerleaders from her previous East Los Angeles school to get transferred to her new school to stack the deck against the Jaguars. I didn´t particularly work hard at remembering the names of the supporting characters, but they each give about the same level of performance in filling a stereotype that we´ve seen before. There is the tough Latino best friend with the matching attitude and the equally tough African American friend. There is the nerdy girl Christina (Nikki SooHoo) who always seems out of place, but is a perfect example of an underdog.

I´m not going to say that "Bring It On: Fight to the Finish" is a horrible film, but I´m definitely not going to call it a good film. It clearly is intended for an audience and a demographic that I am not a part of. The writing is pedestrian and simply recycles the same themes we´ve seen over and over and it appears as if writers Elena Song and Alyson Fouse were asked to just remake one of the previous "Bring It On" films with a little Latino flair. I found the film far too stereotypical and almost racist at times in how it portrayed some of the characters and I wouldn´t be surprised if there are some out there who become offended by the film. I´ve certainly seem worse written films, but everything done in this film is just regurgitated.

The performances are average. Nobody stands out as being overly poor or stellar. Cody Longo has a role in the upcoming "Fame" remake and had a little more charisma than most of his colleagues in this film and I thought Holland Roden did well and I enjoyed her as Emily Locke in television´s best show "Lost." Nikki SooHoo´s performance bothered me, but I´m going to point a finger at director Billie Woodruff and suggest that SooHoo´s character was asked to be as out of place as how SooHoo portrayed Christina. You can´t fully fault Woodruff for the problems with this film either. Aside from the 2005 film "Beauty Shop," he had only directed music videos and the horrendous Jessica Alba film "Honey." I can´t imagine Woodruff cared much about getting award winning performances out of his actors, but wanted them to look good dancing.

"Bring It On: Fight to the Finish" is what it is. It is a direct-to-video release of a tired franchise that exists only for a given demographic. And if you aren´t part of the target audience, you´ll have little to no reason to watch the film. It isn´t intended to be a great film, but a display of cheerleading and solid dancing. There are millions of little girls out there who eat this kind of thing up and there are countless young cheerleaders who can draw some inspiration from this film. Maybe "Bring It On: Fight to the Finish" can prevent one little cheerleader from becoming another Avery and will treat the underdogs and the less talented better. If that is the case, then "Bring In On: Fight to the Finish" can do some good for the world. Otherwise, it is just another attempt to cash in on a formula that is flat in taste and recycled, but makes the studio a little money.