Step

Not a bad film at all.

It's called Step. I assumed that I would get more of a sport competition story. The movie is about an specialized all girls school in Baltimore, with the goal to get these girls into college, which the documentary proved they succeeded at. Step mostly focus on three girls in the high school who are also on the step team, and what their lives are about. Interestingly enough, I'm convince that only one of the girls truly needed the step team for the focus to get a good education and moved on to college, while the other two could put it on their college application so it looked better.

Either way, the documentary did do it's purpose. It inspirational and uplifting how these young woman have put such a positive spin of what could have been a negative spiral. It's a good ad for the great this High School is doing, and because of that it is a great sports story about the underdog done good.

Watch it and it will put you in a positive mood.

Follows the founding class of the Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women and their STEP group.

The main point of the school is for every girl to graduate from high school, get into college and then graduate from college.

Raw emotion and choices that some of the ladies make impact their futures for better and worse.

Must see!

Step has a perfect cinematography and sound track, and tells an inspiring and sensational story. The audience clap towards the end of it. Go for it. You will not be disappointed. It is unbelievable that step-dance could really change the spirit and attitude of a person, and that all the students in the LLOB high school got admitted to college.

STEP exceeded my expectations! Variety has called it ""Hoop Dreams" for the social media generation". I was skeptical - another doc on the marginalize. But this is different thanks to the filmmaker – who entertained while documenting a slice of life for this group of students, parents and their teachers. See it!

Step can be best described as a roller-coaster. This is a film about life, dreams and passion. You go on a journey with three amazing young woman who have used Step to shape themselves into empowering role models. This movie is basically Dance Moms but with a heart, a soul and overall positivity.

This documentary follows three strong, intelligent, beautiful African American high school seniors. It shows these girls in their home life and in their school life. It also shows what it was like for these girls living in Baltimore, a year after the Freddie Gray Protests in 2015. Many scenes in the film portray the "Black Lives Matter" movement and the importance of it. Blessin, our first protagonist and main focus of STEP is very likable and relatable. The audience can understand her struggles and her angry outbursts. Blessin struggles more than the others with her grades, but she is the powerhouse and founder of the Step team. She shows her tender side when she cares for her nephew. The other girls, Cori and Tayla take school more seriously and have strong parental figures that help them through the tough times. Even though Tayla's mom can be a bit overbearing, she has her daughter's back, and in the end, that's what's important. Cori lives with six siblings, her stepfather and a mom who, in Cori's own words, "is like a magic wand." Cori's mom was a teenager when she was pregnant with Cori but her faith helped her get through the rough times.

A big focus of this documentary is feminism and racial equality. The girls discuss this at the memorial for Freddie Gray. Their coach "Coach G" tells them that they are not only black but they are women. So they have to fight harder than others and how it should not be this way. Not only that, but the two dance numbers shown in the film deal with these issues. The First Routine is about Black Lives Matter, and the other one is about Sisterhood. I was really impressed and found myself cheering these girls on through their journey and desperately hoping for them to succeed. Even though I am not a big fan of dancing, I have to admit these girls were really talented.

I would definitely give this documentary 4 out of 5 stars. I would recommend this film for 10 to 18 year olds. Anybody who wants a positive and motivational movie should watch this film.

Reviewed by Calista B., KIDS FIRST! Film Critic. For more reviews by youth, visit kidsfirst dot org.