If only director Remo D’Souza had curbed his enthusiasm and trimmed this film by a good half hour, it wouldn’t feel like such a slog. Despite all the high-energy up on screen, you feel drained after 155 minutes of non-stop song and dance. Sure anybody can dance, but it takes more work to keep an audience consistently engaged.

Much of ‘ABCD2′ is inspired by real life: a Mumbai group made it to the world hip-hop championships a few years ago under tough circumstances. The film sets out to prove that all of us can do with second chances, and that Indians can do hip-hop as well as the rest of the world (which we can easily believe given the astonishing degree of expertise we see on our reality shows) But a dance movie needs to electrify. That’s missing: all the I-love-my-India drippiness overwhelms the choreography. And why is it so long? It just goes on and on.

Reliably, ABCD 2 livens up when the action shifts to stage, thanks to some splendid choreography by the inspiration behind its source — Suresh Mukund and Vernon Monteiro (featured in the closing credits). Even if you’re not a fan of this sort of dancing, the upshot of the troupe’s sheer coordination and dedication is tailor-made for applause, a sentiment you increasingly experience in the concluding half of the movie.

For dance freaks, there is much on offer. For lovers of cinema, ABCD 2 is a hazy blur of a movie.

…might work for you if you just want to enjoy some cool dance numbers. There is little in the film apart for that to entertain you.

The laziness in the writing just gets more and more obvious as the film progresses – usually in a dance film, you are waiting for the climax because that is often the grand piece, but here is no such yearning because you’ve already had enough by then. To be fair, the finale, though it takes a long time to come, is splendidly done.

Yes, it is a dance film but unlike in a dance reality show or a dance DVD, in a film we need the semblance of a plot. We cannot move from one of piece of choreography to the other with an incongruous narrative. Except the dance sequences, every other element in this film seems like an afterthought.

If you ask me, the performances are not a patch on the earlier movie; they are patchy, not fluid. Moreover, you lose the grip on the movie within the first 30 minutes after you realize that there is no plot to take it further. It’s just a push and shove scenario, hoping to get lucky.

Nevertheless, for dance freaks, this could prove to be a good outing.

ABCD 2 is too melodramatic and too impressed with itself to be able to deliver an eye-popping dance spectacle that you expect and deserve. If you’re looking for that great Bollywood dance-off film, you’ll have to wait and see if ABCD 3 does it for you.

As someone who wholeheartedly enjoyed ABCD, I have to say this has proven to be a disappointing and unworthy sequel. The film ends with a quote by Remo that says, ‘Life is all about the next step’. We certainly hope Remo’s next step has us dancing again!

ABCD 2 is blatant about how little it cares for the writing. And it’s very clear about its passion for hip hop. So, if you don’t care about the story and are looking for groovy hip hop moves, ABCD 2 is just the right thing for you.

Anybody can dance, but not everybody can watch them do just that for 154 minutes (the film’s run time) at a stretch. Enthusiasts, who feed on dance reality TV marathons and expect this to be little more than the best of Dance India Dance, will find it to be an audio-visual delight.

The film suffers majorly from poor writing and poorer editing. The dance group has three months to prepare for the international championship; alas, they spend three days that felt like three years to convince Prabhu Deva to be their choreographer. The film in the second half is as sluggish. You lose patience.
…if you are a DID/Jhalak Dikhhlaa Jaa/Just Dance fan. If you have broken your fingers, sending a thousand messages to save your favorite contestants on reality shows!! If Dharmesh, Punit, Cockroach, Raghav are familiar names who bring a big smile on your face, then you must watch ABCD 2.