Bring It On is a funny, feel-good look at the cutthroat world of top level, high school cheerleading competition. The young cast, led by the constantly perky Kirsten Dunst, does a fine job playing these overly ambitious, entirely shallow girls. Though the look and sound of this movie are both very of-the-moment, it is really just an old-fashioned Disney flick with a totally predictable ending, which somehow forces you to cheer along.
Remember in the late seventies and early eighties when mainstream teenage movies were filled with explicit and promiscuous sex coupled with rampant drug and alcohol abuse? Think of Animal House, Porky's and Fast Times at Ridgemont High. That was a reflection of the times; today we have the same thing only with a more sophisticated attitude. The sex in this movie is only implied but in a manner that takes it completely for granted. It's no big deal. We even, finally, have openly gay characters being treated as regular kids by everyone (except of course for the dumb jocks). Again all things which reflect the times. I think when a movie causes us to reflect on, or simply to recognize our times in a way which maybe was unclear before, then it has succeeded. In that sense, Bring It On is a truthful movie.
Dunst is Torrance, newly elected captain of her high-school cheerleading squad, which has won the national contest five straight years. She soon discovers that the routines that her squad had been using to win were all stolen from a Compton school where most of the students are minorities. That pretty much sums up the plot.
The routines themselves are peppy and gymnastically challenging. Still they begin to flow together by about the mid-way point. There are some funny moments and the pace moves along well enough. There are also many beautiful young people of both sexes to admire. Yes this movie has the obligatory locker room scene.
So, though this movie does successfully capture at least a slice of American youth circa 2000, it is only slightly above average for the genre.
