Spectacular dance sequences and some serious dusting-the-dirt-off-your-shoulder moves make up this 'getting the gang back together' style instalment of the Step Up franchise, where favourite characters return and the dance crews head for the bright lights of Las Vegas.

Things aren’t going so well for the Mob crew who, after landing a deal with Nike and moving to LA, realise the business of dance and living your dreams comes with some significant drawbacks.

When the rejection and heartbreak of the audition process finally gets to them, the gang decide to move back to Miami. However, Sean (Step Up 4's Ryan Guzman) refuses to give up so easily, taking a job at a dance studio with his old friend Moose (Adam G Sevani). Together they bring together some familiar faces who they persuade to enter The Vortex, a reality TV competition, with the prize being a three-year dancing show deal.

Izabella Miko works it like Michelle Pfeiffer in Stardust as the face of The Vortex, her sparkly outfits and wicked ways demonstrating the lure and manipulative nature of reality TV. An undercooked romance between Andie (Step Up 2's Briana Evigan) and Sean plays out in the peripheries, though they to do get a cool seduction dance at an abandoned fairground set to Bobby Brown’s 'Every Little Step'.

Everyone gets a little bit of the limelight in director Trish Sie's feature debut, along with their share of woes on the path to the grand finale of the dance competition. The high point is of course the final dance-off, which contains an impressive pop-and-lock moment and the fabulous Mari Koda faux roller-skating over bodies.

Step Up 5 cheesily explores the strains of the business, the importance of friendship and the joy of booty shaking. The supporting stories are thin and the 3D is pointless but the dancing is, as ever, brilliant.

General release from Fri 1 Aug.

Step Up 5 (trailer)