Starring Briana Evigan, Robert Hoffman, and Will Kemp. Rated PG.

Is it just me or are urban dance movies becoming stale? Step Up 2 the Streets is the latest of this genre more obsessed with dancing than with a good story, which, despite all the explosive dance routines, results in an unsatisfying experience.

This sequel to the 2006 hit Step Up introduces new characters who are a multicultural mix of misfits with a one-track obsession: to dance their hearts out for some respect on the streets.

The film opens with a high-energy dance riff on a Baltimore interurban train by the 410 crew, an outlaw street-dance group who seek street cred through their impromptu performances in public places.

Andie (Briana Evigan) is part of the 410 crew, but her days of defiant dancing are in jeopardy. Her mother has had enough of Andie’s rebellious ways and gives her a choice between going to Texas to live with her aunt or enrolling in the famous Maryland School of the Arts.

Andie chooses MSA, where the dance academy is run by brothers Chase and Blake Collins (Robert Hoffman and Will Kemp, respectively). Chase wants to break free from the stuffed-shirt Blake by starting an MSA street crew, and Andie is just the ticket. He quickly charms her, and soon their team is ripping up the streets and on a collision course with Andie’s old 410 bunch.

This is a by-the-numbers dance film, with a meandering story line that doesn’t amount to much. The bad dialogue, clichéd characters, and substandard performances don’t help either. All it has left to rely on is the dancing—which comes alive during the finale—but this ain’t no Stomp the Yard.