'Step Up 3D': Let's put on a show, kids

Back in 2006, the dance flick "Step Up" and the Disney television movie "High School Musical" launched respective franchises focused on fresh-faced, happy-footed teenagers.

Since then, a different kind of adolescent has taken over, namely the sulking, self-pitying quasi-goths of "Twilight." They may be popular, but boy are they a bummer.

So it's nice to see "Step Up 3D," the third in the series, in which energetic youngsters do handsprings and back flips and generally make the most of their various muscle groups. The film brings back Adam G. Sevani, a natural charmer who plays the skinny, endearingly named Moose. He's now an NYU student who has given up dancing for an engineering degree. Within five minutes of screen time, though, Moose has joined the Pirates, an underdog dance crew led by the handsome, older Luke (Rick Malambri).

Let's skip the plot (big tournament, cash prize) and the dialogue ("One move can set a whole generation free") and get to the dancing. It's uniformly terrific, despite the busy camerawork of director Jon M. Chu. One routine, in which the Pirates lock into a synchronized slow-motion groove, is an absolute stunner. During scenes like those, the pristine 3-D is a bonus. It can get distracting, though, when Luke and his soul mate, Natalie (Sharni Vinson), start making out in your lap.

Granted, "Step Up 3D" has about as much substance as a Coke commercial - it also looks like one - but at least it's free of pretension. And nobody, thank goodness, is pouting.