![]() Ken Finkleman's scenario stands the plot of "Grease" on its head. In addition to being energized and controlled by a dancer's vision, "Grease 2" reveals a romantic, sensuous outlook that dignifies much of the sexual joking and maneuvering between the teen-age characters. There is a fundamental harmony between the flow of activity and the flow of imagery. When the brisk, amiable young cast members of "Grease 2" shift into strutting, bouncing, gliding dance steps from their ordinary strides or gestures, the composition and cutting harmonize with the ways and directions in which they're moving. By the time the number ends with a charming acrobatic flourish-a tardy student bypasses the front steps and dives gracefully through an open window-Birch has succeeded in introducing all the significant characters, new and old, while demonstrating a flair for robust, humorous, coordinated dance movement on the screen. ![]() The movie begins with a complicated outdoor production number, as the student body of Rydell High arrives for a new semester, ostensibly two years after "Grease" concluded. One suspects that she must also have cringed at the way her dance routines looked in "Grease," because the first thing that impresses you about "Grease 2" is the pictorial and rhythmic assurance of the dance ensembles. The whole tradition seemed to be devalued by the sudden commercial preeminence of this overwhelming esthetic insult to movie musicals.Įvidently, the remarkable, desirable difference between "Grease" and "Grease 2" can be attributed to the promotion of Patricia Birch, who choreographed the original, to director-choreographer of the sequel. Even so, it was depressing to contemplate the fact that "Grease" had become the top-grossing musical in Hollywood history, surpassing even "The Sound of Music" and vaulting into fourth place on the Variety list of all-time hits. The movie's enormous success appeared to be a fluke, attributable to the popularity of John Travolta. ![]() It is an ingratiating, jubilant improvement on a crummy original.Īnd as the box-office smash of four summers ago, "Grease" left plenty of room for improvement, especially as an example of movie musical stylization. ![]() "Grease 2" is the most serendipitous sequel in recent memory. ![]()
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