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.

I usually do not write reviews on films I've seen. And seen I have quite a lot (30-50/month) as I am a real movie freak and really addicted to movies. There is no difference in what kind of genre. Now, there are a lot of overrated films out there that even got nominated for an Oscar where they (in my opinion) should not even deserve a nomination at all. If they do, than it must have been a really boring year in movie-making in general. That goes for many movies during the last 10-15 years. On the opposite, there are movies which are massively underrated. TAKE THE LEAD is one of them. I am an art-teacher myself, love mostly everything creative, love movies, love music, love dancing. That film really gives a realistic picture of how public schools work and what it needs to rise the values of them. Antonio Banderas did a great job acting the teacher who offers the students this picture of respect and value. He let us feel that he believed in the good of everyone, and with that he sparkled the light in the students, gave them self respect and motivation. What the movie did for me was giving me a great time of entertainment that so many other movies (far overrated) did not. And besides: it really inspired me to dance again! Enjoy this one!

1."Take The Lead" is o.k. and is standard Hollywood o.k. except for the ending, which was preposterous, because it was manipulative and couldn't have happened in real life. (Could anyone believe for a moment that Banderas was so grief stricken, years later, that he didn't have a girlfriend?)2. For those of you who really liked this movie, however, there is a great feature-length documentary on NYC's public school ballroom program/competition and it's called "Mad Hot Ballroom". But this movie is the real McCoy; the entire film. It's also well done technically, but mainly is peopled by real kids; not a professional actor in sight. Story is additionally great because it builds to a highpoint ending that the docu-maker could only have fantasized about at the beginning of the project. I don't want to "Spoiler" it but what a dramatic payoff! And every element of it really happened; you can see it happening!

In the tradition of GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS, THE BLACKBOARD JUNGLE, TO SIR WITH LOVE, and DANGEROUS MINDS we get a new variation on the old story of a group of misfit high school students finding new motivations in life through a dedicated teacher. TAKE THE LEAD is a fact-inspired tale revolving around Pierre Dulaine, the owner of a ballroom dancing studio who, after witnessing an act of teenage vandalism, offers to teach ballroom dancing at an inner city high school. The principal tentatively agrees to let him teach the kids who are permanently in detention for the rest of the school year. Despite a preachy, cliché-filled screenplay and manic music video direction, the film is watchable because the dance sequences are positively electric, superbly choreographed by JoAnn Jansen. Antonio Banderas is charming and understated as Dulaine, the caring teacher who does manage to reach these kids until the world of these kids and the world of the students at his own school begin to collide. Banderas wisely underplays to the extremely gifted young actors chosen to play the delinquents-turned-dancers here and allows them to shine, as they should and do. Alfre Woodard also manages to make the most of a predictably-written role as the principal of the school. When the movie leaves the dance floor, it screeches to a dead halt, but every single dance sequence in the film is mesmerizing, whether it's a single student practicing by herself in a quiet boiler room or a three versus two tango challenge that is like nothing I've ever seen on screen. When the movie dances it works, when it stops dancing, be forewarned as it trots out every cliché you've ever seen in a movie about inner city high school kids, but Banderas and the dancing make it worth watching.