Would it be a better musical experience if when Gene Kelly splashed about in Singin' in the Rain, you saw each drop of water bouncing towards you? Or if while viewing Week-End in Havana, you felt you could pluck a berry from Carmen Miranda's turban? And what if it seemed you could almost look up Julie Andrews' skirt as she twirled about the hills that were alive with music?

Step Up 3D, with its relentless kaleidoscopic imagery, begs these questions as its youthful dancers burst off the screen in a nonstop bustle of gymnastic twirls, head spins, and rock 'em-sock 'em gesturing. With the slightest of storylines, even less character development, numerous actors who wouldn't be out of place in the C-movies of the 1950s, and choreography that's more Olympian than Fosse-esque, the third dimension supplied here often seems more gimmicky than artful.

Yet Step Up 3D, while often silly and always simplistic, is never less than entertaining. And for the most part, with the exceptions now and then of a Cabaret and a Fiddler on the Roof, movie musicals throughout history have similarly been about hitching up the horny leads by the finale. Motto: Love never runs smoothly until a few minutes before the end credits.

In this grand tradition, here are two sets of couples seeking a direct hit by Cupid's arrows. First, there's Moose (Adam Sevani), an NYU freshman forced to major in engineering while his feet beg him to not give up his first love, dance. Competing with Moose's toes for his attention is fellow coed Camille (Alyson Stoner) ,who wants her young man to dress up as half of the Olsen twins for a Halloween party.

Second, there's the drop-dead gorgeous hunk Luke (Rick Malambri), who runs a dance club in the building he inherited from his parents. The profits go to supporting a group of street dancers he has cobbled together to compete for a $100,000 underground dance award. While rehearsing his homies and trying to not lose his residence to foreclosure, Luke falls for Natalie (Sharni Vinson), an energetic dancer with a dark secret.

Mr. Malambri, a former model for Abercrombie & Fitch and Ralph Lauren, gives line readings throughout "Step Up" that are so flat, you expect to spot several staples piercing his navel. Imagine Ashton Kutcher in a coma. But visually this young man was made for 3D. And when he tongue kisses Ms. Vinson while the pair's frosty drinks are being blown up in the air (you'll have to see it to comprehend it), you can't help but be enchanted.

As for Moose and Camille, they let loose in an old-fashioned manner to the Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein II/Otto Hauerbach tune "I Won't Dance," hot-footing through the streets of Manhattan with a finesse that pays high tribute to old Hollywood and young romance. This is the high point of the film that's vigorously directed by John Chu (Step Up: 2: The Streets).

If there are no surprises, that's part of the tradition. You know immediately who'll win the prize, and who will be end up being happy with whom. That all of the dancers' feet are often threatening to leave the screen and bang you on the head just adds to the joy. - Brandon Judell

Mr. Judell is featured in the forthcoming documentary Activist: The Times of Vito Russo and has been edited out of Rosa von Praunheim's New York Memories. In the fall, he'll be teaching "American Jewish Theater" and "Theater into Film" at The City College of New York. He has written on film for The Village Voice, indieWire.com, The New York Daily News, and The Advocate, and is anthologized in Cynthia Fuchs's Spike Lee Interviews (University Press of Mississippi).