Review: Honey 3 BD + Screen Caps

THE MOVIE — 2.25/5

Honey 3: Dare to Dance is the latest entry in the vaunted Honey franchise and the thing is, it’s exactly what you think it is; there’s little mystery that the film is a bunch of dancing held together with a thin plot and bad acting. Problem it has is that there’s nothing to distinguish it from the 20 other dance-dramas that have come before.

The story revolves around a young woman named Melea (CASSIE VENTURA) who, with boyfriend Erik (KENNY WORMALD), wants to put on a production of “Romeo and Juliet” with a hip-hop/dance flare. But her dreams of putting on this play, through her private school, are crushed when her scholarship money to pay for the tuition runs dry and she’s forced to drop out.

However, she remains determined and with the help from the community, she pushes forward with plans for the hip-hop adaptation utilizing a rundown theater and the help from the musically-talented Erik as well as Taj Mfeka (CLAYTON EVERSTON), a music star with ties to Cape Town. She even seeks support, when it’s felt the dance numbers needed more “edge” of a rival, Ishani (SIBO MLAMBO), whom she had a run-in with during the film’s opening and someone walled off following the death of her brother by the hands of a gang.

If you’ve seen Step Up, Save the Last Dance, Center Stage (the second and third entries interestingly also starring Kenny Wormald) and even Honey, you’ve pretty much get more of the same, just with slightly different dance styles with the same level of acting, a thin story and moderately adequate direction. Personally, Honey 3 isn’t awful as some of the music is catchy and thanks to a charming enough performance by lead actress Cassie Ventura (Step Up 2: The Streets and The Perfect Match and probably better known for her music), the film at least is watchable even when the dialogue is cheesy and the so-called “conflict” was weak and contrived.

Honey 3 was directed by Bille Woodruff — from a script by Catherine Cyran (2012’s Werewolf: The Beast Among Us and director of no less than 3 The Prince & Me sequels) — who also directed the first two Honey movies (the second one I haven’t had the pleasure to watch) as well as Bring It On: Fight to the Finish and Addicted, is pretty basic though the editing was pretty bad particularly the final dance sequence where we cut to audience reactions with some laughable dialogue.

In the end, for fans of these dance movies, Honey 3 perfectly adequate. Nothing more, nothing less and for others like myself, surely you’ll be able to see it on cable in a year or two.

SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.25/5

This release comes with a semi-glossy, title-embossed, slip cover. Inside is a standard DVD Copy and a redemption code for the Digital HD copy.

Audio Commentary – Writer/Director Bille Woodruff sits down for an informative track breaking down the location shoots in South Africa and working with the various actors/dancers.

Deleted Scenes (11:42; HD) – We get ten scenes that were cut down or removed, likely for pacing issues.

Extended Dance Sequences (14:22; HD) is just some extra footage from six key scenes including the opening.

Behind the Dance: The Making of Honey 3 (6:03; HD) is a standard behind-the-scenes featurette with cast (including Cassie Ventura, Dena Kaplan) and crew (Bille Woodruff, etc.) interviews.

South African Backdrop (2:22; HD) – This featurette looks at the filming locales in Cape Town.

Battle Dakota Club (1:58; HD) is a brief featurette on the club used for the opening sequence.

VIDEO – 4.5/5

AUDIO – 4.75/5

OVERALL – 2.75/5

Overall, Honey 3 isn’t a particularly ‘good’ movie but it’s perfectly harmless and should be satisfactory to fans of these types of dance dramas like Step Up and Center Stage. The acting is, at best, so-so but at least lead actress Cassie Ventura wasn’t bad and some of the music was decent. The Blu-ray released through Universal offers great video/audio transfers while the features are respectable enough.