Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
The Toro cheerleading squad from Rancho Carne High School in San Diego has got spirit, spunk, sass and a killer routine that's sure to land them the national championship trophy for the sixth year in a row. But for newly-elected team captain Torrance, the Toros' road to total cheer glory takes a shady turn when she discovers that their perfectly-choreographed routines were in fact stolen.
Bring It On is a cheerful, self-aware teen comedy that punches above its genre expectations. The plagiarism/rivalry plot gives it a sharper satirical edge than most cheerleading films, and the script has genuine wit about high school social hierarchies. Acting is solid across the board — Kirsten Dunst is charming and Gabrielle Union brings real presence — but neither performance transcends the genre. Cinematography is functional at best, typical of late-90s/early-2000s teen comedies with little visual ambition. Novelty is modestly above average: it's not a wholly original concept but its self-aware humor and cheerleading-as-competitive-sport framing gave it a distinct voice at the time. The ending is a bit predictable and tidy, resolving moral and competitive tensions a little too neatly.