Take a moment to envision “Coach Carter” with no basketball or perhaps “Dangerous Minds” without poetry. That’s right, there’s another “inspired-by-a-true story” movie to add to the list, but this time, it’s dancing that changes the lives of a group of troubled high school teenagers.

“Take the Lead” is based on the story of professional dancer Pierre Dulaine played by none other than Zorro himself, Antonio Banderas.

Dulaine witnesses a student defaming the principal’s car and inevitably motivates him to try and make a difference. He does this by teaching ballroom dancing to high school students in the New York public school area.

Just by sitting in the school’s office waiting room, Dulaine already charms members of the staff and student body. The principal, played by Alfre Woodard, is unmoved by his knight-in-shining-armor ways. With signs of his persistence not wearing out any time soon, the principal gives him the responsibility of tending to the school’s detention bound students.

When the students don’t take in his type of dancing right away, Dulaine brings in Morgan, one of his upper-class dance partners, to help show the kids that ballroom dancing is more than just classical music.

This is where Banderas shows off his pristine dancing skills. All the twists, turns and dips were a change from his usual action packed movies. This demonstration between Dulaine and Morgan showed that even though ballroom dancing music isn’t as crackin’ as the kind students are used to, “it’s like sex on hardwood.” The intensity between the two was so strong that your eyes will be glued to their every move until their dance is complete.

As the story goes on, the never-ending banter between Danjou and Ramos, played by Elijah Kelley and Dante Basco, for the affection of Sasha, played by Jenna Dewan, stretches far out into the movie. The love triangle becomes important when the threesome serves as the topping to a scene so climactic that even members of the audience had to applaud with excitement.

The film’s basic plot does bare a resemblance to other movies inspired by a true story and it doesn’t take more than a regular movie buff to predict the formulaic ending.

However, the film does hold a few characteristics that keep it from being just another full-blown “renter.” “Take the Lead” combines the musical styles of ballroom and hip-hop and although it may seem hard to believe at first, it’s actually not as impossible as one might think. There’s an even amount of both types of music playing throughout the film and a remix combining the two that’s sure to make your upper body move to the beat.

Although there wasn’t as much dancing as there could have been, “Take the Lead” fulfills its duties of being another “feel good” movie. It’s not an absolute must-see, but for those who like looking for new music to dance along to, this movie is worth checking out.

Written by Dianne Houston and directed by Liz Friedlander, “Take the Lead” opened in theatres Friday.

Rating: 3 out of 4 stars

Aleesa Camagong can be reached at [email protected].