Wednesday, August 25, 2010

"Bring It On" 10 years later

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It was 10 years ago today that the cheerleading-themed film "Bring It On" premiered.  I'd not heard too much about it beforehand,  but decided to go see it that weekend.  Little did I know how much I would enjoy it and that  I would still be watching it 10 years later.  I later got a used VHS copy at Blockbuster in June 2001 and finally the DVD in 2006 when I spotted it for $9.99 at Target.   

I was never a cheerleader, though I tried out once in high school, so the subject matter was only somewhat familiar to me.  My high school only had female cheerleaders and there were three squads: Varsity, JV and Freshmen.  Nevertheless  found this film enjoyable and the most recent time that I put on the DVD, it hit me that the 10-year anniversary was coming up.  It hardly seems that long ago since the year 2000.  This was when the Internet was still coming into vogue, when cell phones were just starting to become a necessity, and before sites called MySpace, Facebook or Twitter ever existed.  


"Bring it On," a starring vehicle for Kirsten Dunst, remains a favorite of mine.   I  was Bring It on Againsomewhat excited to see a sequel in 2004, but a little disappointed to earn it would be of all new characters.  The lead characters in "Bring It On Again" were  lookalikes of Torrance, Dunst's character and of Isis, the rival cheerleader played by Gabrielle Union.  The Torrance lookalike was named Whittier, which like Torrance, is the name of  a city in Southern California (I'm Northern California girl, BTW).   Like this reviewer I wasn't too fond of this sequel, but liked the next one "Bring It On: All or Nothing".  It's the only Bring It On: All or Nothingone of the sequels I have on DVD.   Next was "Bring It On: In It to Win It," inBring It On: In It to Win It 2007 and "Bring It On: Fight to the Finish" in 2009, both of which I rented through Netflix shortly after they were released.  Both of these were all right by me.  All of these sequels, which had no common characters with the original or with each other, wereBring It On: Fight to the Finish direct-to-DVD.   All shared the cheerleading theme.  

After seeing the original "Bring It On" in 2000,  I just had to see the cheerleading-themed "Sugar and Spice" in 2001.  It was like "Bring It On" gone bad.   I liked this film as well, though I have not seen it since its release nine years ago.  

And just last month from Netflix I rented 2009's "Fired Up!" This could be described as a hybrid of "Bring It On" and "Superbad," (another favorite I have on DVD).  A Netflix user even made the "Bring It On"-"Superbad" hybrid description in a review on the site.   I thoroughly enjoyed "Fired Up!" as well.   The characters in "Fired Up!" are even seen watching and quoting the original "Bring It On" at their cheer camp. 

All these films were good and bad in their own way, but the original still reigns after 10 years!

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