Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo (1984)

"Fresher than fresh, funkier than funky!" - Ozone

Street dancers fight to save their community center from being destroyed.
Starring: Lucinda Dickey, Adolfo Quinones, Michael Chambers, Ken Olfson

Link to IMDB

After the huge success of Breakin' came the inevitable sequel, and it arrived only seven months later. Is that even humanly possible?

An undetermined amount of time has past since we last saw Kelly, but she has recently been dancing on Broadway for a few shows. She's growing tired of the daily grind and decides to take a break from her career, much to the chagrin of her stuffy parents. Kelly goes to chill with her good friends, Ozone and Turbo, who have been teaching dance at an inner city community center they've named Miracles.
I quickly noticed that the dancing is portrayed a bit different here. In the first movie it was only used as part of the plot, but the sequel feels more like a musical, as the entire neighborhood dances in the street to celebrate Kelly's visit.

The gang is back !

Business guys

Miracles is a great place for all the local kids, the positive environment being like a second home for many of them. Old Byron owns the place and he offers Kelly a job there to teach, she accepts, and of course everyone breaks out into another dance routine.
Not everything is peaceful for long, because a rich business man is trying to close Miracles so that he can build his new shopping center on the lot. The community would need to raise $200,000 in 30 days in order to save it from being demolished, which seems like an impossible task to Old Byron.
Ozone has other problems when his dance rivals start harassing him again, but instead of settling things with a dance-off like they used to, they now go full bonkers and have a dance-fight! It's intense and amazing nonsense that is only the beginning of the weirdness to come.

"When I'm dancing it feels like everything is alright." - Lady

The first half meanders for awhile, with time wasted on small sub-plots and random dancing, instead of getting to the main conflict. It starts gaining momentum again when the movie decides to deliver two things: More focus on the character's stories, and some full-blown wackiness on the side.

Ozone needs to rally the community (with dance) and try to get City Hall and the press involved to save Miracles, all while Kelly debates leaving for a career in Paris. It's not delivered as serious as the first movie, but it's still a decent tale of the downtrodden struggling to have their voices heard.
It's when the movie cuts loose into surreal moments that really makes it memorable. For example, Turbo literally dances on the ceiling like Lionel Richie! But when an entire hospital ward dances away their injuries I just had to accept that the absurdity was a great idea, and I was gladly getting pulled deep into the Electric Boogaloo zone!

Byron delivers a speech to City Hall

It was great to see these characters again, even if the movie was clearly rushed into production with a lazy script padded by lots of dancing. Don't get me wrong, the dancing is still fun, but it's often here without any connection to the plot (or reality.)
I enjoyed the more conventional, streetwise original over the exaggerated and comedic elements of this one. Both movies still work great as 80's dance stories, just for different reasons, because Breakin' 2 celebrates its cheesy weirdness without any restraints.

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Be sure not to miss:
- That 12 year-old girl has the hairiest armpits ever!
- Ice-T is back with more whack rhymes.
- 30 years later, and the infamous subtitle remains a pop-culture reference for absurd sequel ideas people joke about.

Internet review:
"Every minute contains a new reason to howl in surprise and derision. - Tasha

Should I watch it?
Both are definitely worth seeing, but the sequel's a lot more silly.

Where can I find it?
Viable links here.

Breakin' 2 gets...