User reviews

This is a ridiculous film! Not only is there no good dancing , as the title suggests, and moronic dialog, but the writers obviously did not research Brazilian culture whatsoever before making this crappy movie. I'm Brazilian, born and raised, and believe me on this one, there are NO princesses there. Not even anything close! It makes me angry that this movie portrays my country and culture so wrong. Asides from that, the movie makes me laugh because everything is so exaggerated and corny!

This movie is bad. Painfully bad. Kinda like being struck in the head with a ball-peen hammer. Repeatedly. But worse.

Acting - Cardboard. Plot - written on a napkin during someones lunchbreak. I think the movie was directed by a ouija board or magic 8 ball ('plot unclear, try again later')

I'm allowed up to 1,000 words to insult this movie but it doesn't rate that level of effort. In short -

THIS IS THE MUST SEE ACTION ADVENTURE OF THE NINETIES!!! NO HOME SHOULD BE WITHOUT ONE!!! OPERATORS ARE STANDING BY!! VOTE EARLY AND OFTEN!!!

Brazil was finally allowed to break onto the scene in the US for the first time since the 40s and along comes this piece of propaganda to ruin it every thing about Brazil in this movie is inaccurate if you want to watch something about Brazil watch Central Station (Central Do Brasil) this was without a doubt one of the worst movies ever don't waste your time

I saw this movie 10 years ago and I don't remember many details. I remember only that I paid a $1.50 at an AAFES theater in Panama just to sit in the air conditioning, and I still felt ripped off afterwards. This movie is so cheesy, so schmaltzy, so utterly corny and unispired that it sets the standard in this regard. See it only to set a baseline against which all other pathetic movies may be judged.

This movie is one of the funniest things I've ever had the pleasure of watching. I was like 6-8 when I watched it, numerous times. I was always impressed by how bizarre people thought us down here to be, I mean, oh, yes, EVERYBODY can dance, and especially lambada, not only one or other weird boy band, and everyone can easily get in the US, and, as far as I can remember, she's an Indian or something, and looks nothing like one, but, OK. Anyway, this gets a 6 simply because it's fun and funny. It's so bad, but SO BAD I can't help but laugh. Everyone I know knows this movie, and they are all like, It's bad as hell, but it's so funny. So, here's to crappy American movies that show how the average American think (though they are trained this way) the rest of the world is. And, what you know? I'm Brazilian born and raised, still residing, I have a computer, multiple TVs, have never been in the middle of the Amazon jungle, and I'm certainly not an Indian. Most people in the country aren't. PS: Nisa? If I ever meet someone here called that, I will make it my life mission to mock her.

Okay, granted that I saw this movie several years ago and I was much younger, but I remember it as being totally hilarious. No, it wasn't a film with much depth, the concept was really stupid, and it surely wasn't going to win any Oscars. But it was super funny, because it was just that ridiculous. Still to this day I can hum the theme song to the movie,(sad, I know)but it's an awesome memory.I recommend this movie to anyone that wants to laugh their but off for no reason. The Forbidden Dance is a movie that I hope to own, so I can look at it countless times and remember the sheer genius that went into making this great film:)

The spellbinding dance moves of the stunningly beautiful and talented Laura Elena Harring are the only parts of this film worth watching.

Otherwise, the cast was poorly chosen and the dialogue is weak. Aside from a couple songs the music was nothing special. The rainforest subplot could have provided an interesting storyline but as presented it seems disassociated from the characters and the rest of the script; at best it provides an uninteresting break between dance sequences.

Laura Harring is simply an absolutely captivating talent who appears sorely out of place in this film.

This film was pure 1990's dreck. A film to cash on several major events. Laura Herring the first hispanic Miss Teen USA, plight of the rainforest and Lambada the SHORT lived sexy dance craze.

This film was a box office disaster which saw itself competing with and losing out to the other less stupid Lambada film. This films plot is about Laura as a Brazillian princess who will help her native rainforest by winning a dance contest with her sexy lambada moves. This plot becomes beyond stupid when the viewer realizes Laura has no dance ability.

It would of been more believable is if Laura played a hooker and raised money by sleeping with every creepy man she came across. The demise of the Lambada was unfortunate since the next dance craze of the 1990's was the Macarena.

Be thankful there was never a Macarena film

Loved this when it first came out, in my 40s now and I still like it!

Ten out of ten stars? Sure, for AMAZINGLY BAD and HIDEOUS. OK, I'm going from memory, but in 1990 I was a projectionist at a six screen multiplex theater in NH for about 6 months before I moved to NYC Those few months allowed me to witness some horrendous films I would never volunteer to go see like "Joe vs the Volcano" (rember that hilariously putrid waste of celluloid? Funniest part was seeing Abe Vigoda dressed up to play a native chief. Honest.) Well, "Forbidden Dance" was easily the worst film I had seen that year (maybe in years), thus becoming one of the best unintentional comedies I had seen up to that point. Incredibly stupid dialog, horrendous acting, terrible script, absolutely ignorant and insulting to Brazilian culture (which disturbs me now to think of, but at the time I just saw it as another element of ineptness and stupidity exercised by the director/writer/producers.) Anyways, I raved about this film to friends, as in "Ya gotta see this, it's unbelievable, goes beyond the bottom of the barrel." Alas, it stayed maybe a week at the theater, so the planned orgy of a gang of us laughing our heads off at the abomination never materialized.

So I'm going by memory now. Is the film as horrendous as I remember it? I have half- hearted plans to try and dig up a copy to see again and show my wife how truly bad films can be. Yeah, OK, I'm one of those "gotta see a horrible film now and then to get some laughs at its expense" sort of guy, though as I get older, maybe I have a little less time to waste doing that. I am going to try and rent this if I can, to see if it is as hilarious as I remember it. One sad note: one of my favorite character actors, Sid Haig, is in it. A low point in his movie career. All is forgiven, Sid!!!!!!

This movie has everything. First, any film that was written on the fly, is going to be a must see. "Lambada the Forbidden Dance" certainly lives up to the lowest of expectations. The dialog is priceless, with little thought about how hilarious are the words being uttered in stone seriousness. You get Sid Haig as a roaring, yes a lion type roaring Witch Doctor with magical powers, and the always intriguing Richard Lynch as no surprise, one of the bad guys. Acting by anyone not named Haig or Lynch is to be kind, less than zero. This is all part of the fun however, and is to be expected in a film that obviously does not aspire to be "Oscar" material. I say give this one a try, especially if you like a comedy that accidentally surfaces from the depths of the exploitation basement. - MERK

although this movie obviously didn't attract many viewers it was one of the best movies I've ever seen with music and dance.the forbidden dance not only entertained the viewers but also let everyone know that are problems in this world that people need to think about such as the rain forest issue.

Saw this in the theater in the 90's the racism and white privilege went right over my head at the time. Also a very good lesson in the ozone and destruction of the rainforest. The movie definitely was ahead of its time and ahead of the lessons learned in Avitar. Sit back and enjoy and educate yourself.

Dancing has no borders. One love, One life and one world. The acting is about a 5. The Dancing is around a 7 the beauty of the main actress is a 10. 3.99 rental will not leave you disappointed. Also no glove no love. Move had me cracking up and dancing and singing. Don't be fooled by the other Lambada movie that came out the same year and day.