Reviews

Planet B-Boy

Retire the breakdance, already

By GERALD PEARY | April 2, 2008

2.0 Stars

Planet B-Boy

Breakdancing seemed over and done in the ’80s, but hip-hop culture has pumped it alive, combining the original head-spinning street maves with rap, gymnastics, kung fu, MTV, and Broadway. Since 1990 in Germany, there’s been an annual Battle of the Year featuring B-boy squads from countries around the globe. Benson Lee’s documentary centers on the 1995 contest. Among the participants: South Koreans, French, Japanese, and, from the USA, Knucklehead Zoo, who hail from Las Vegas. Planet-B-Boy adheres to the formula of countless competition films: backstage interviews, pinches of biography of various contestants, snippets of dancing. The formulaic approach gets wearying, and the breakdancing all starts to look tediously alike, to the point where one wonders why this retro dance shouldn’t be retired, along with the pony, the jerk, the Charleston, and the cakewalk. 101 minutes | Kendall Square

Related: Taking the B-boys to School, Breaking it down, Stamping grounds, More

Topics: Reviews , Entertainment, Hip-Hop and Rap, Music, More

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