Doesn't he? Seriously now... he looks like a little kid. Half the movie I was screaming at the TV screen: "Don't do it Katey! It's child molestation!"

Ah, big fan of the original. A perfect mix of romance, music and drama, and I'm a total sci fi geek head tomboy kind of a girl so if it reached me you could tell it was something. So i watched the sequel with mixed feelings, because I knew it would never surpass the original. Still, maybe I could get a few kicks out of it. So, bottom line, it's an okay movie that takes itself way to seriously given that the acting is... well... is it acting? To me it looked more like reciting lines in front of a camera, which, sorry, not acting. IMHO

The dancing was good, don't get me wrong. In a movie like this, it BETTER be good or heads are gonna roll. Luna can dance, can't take that away from him but the kid can't act to save his life. And his female counterpart wasn't much better. That scene where she was lying down with her head on his shoulder saying "I'm so glad I'm here to share this with you" I cringed. It was so bad. She had this blank stare on her face... probably because she contemplated child molestation.

Ah, the rest of the cast ain't much better. It's such a waste because I liked the dancing, I liked the ending, I liked the idea of a romance going on with the revolution in the background but the "acting" ruined this movie for me. It seems actors that can dance and actually act at the same time are very rare these days, and those who are probably are expensive. Ah well. Still got my Moulin Rouge...

Can a gifted young actress ever be too good for the part? Yes, if you're talking about this pleasantly bland DIRTY DANCING sequel. HAVANA NIGHTS tries to transplant the "Dirty Dancing" story line to Cuba in the fifties. It's a good idea in itself. But the movie doesn't work because Romola Garai is not just good enough -- she's too good. She's too natural, too glamorous, too self-confident, and too alluring to be believable in the typical "dirty dancing" scenario.

In the original DIRTY DANCING, all of the story's power came from the fact that Jennifer Grey's character was a classic ugly duckling -- not a golden beauty with natural grace. It was thrilling, heartbreaking, poignant and funny to watch "Baby" discover her own sensuality and attractiveness, because you could see how shy and awkward she felt.

None of that dynamic works in HAVANA NIGHTS. The story lacks power precisely because Romola Garai is a screen "natural" in a way that Jennifer Grey never was. You never worry about her future. She seems to be so utterly right the moment she steps onto the dance floor. Far from being intimidated by her Cuban partner, she seems to be more at home on the dance floor than he is. Her golden, regal beauty and bewitching sensuality are so completely radiant and luminous in every scene, you never wonder if she'll get the guy. Instead you wonder why she wants a mere boy instead of a grown man of greater animal power and allure! Romola Garai is destined to be a huge star -- in this movie she soars to greatness.

But that doesn't make HAVANA NIGHTS a great movie.

All good parents tell their children "If you can't say something nice, then don't say anything at all." (Of course, most good parents also warn you about running all over a foreign country at all hours of the night, but I digress!) So....

(INSERT EXTRA LONG PAUSE FILLED WITH TONGUE BITING SILENCE!!)

So, I promise that I won't go on about the injustice done to a modern day classic by slapping it's title on an overly cliched and not well acted (or overly well danced) sloppy second and I won't recount how creepy Patrick Swazye is looking (when exactly did he see her dancing, is the creepy old guy stalking her!?!). Instead, I will say that John Slattery and Sela Ward tried their best with what they were given and the female costumes were stunning (although how she went from a prudish, sweater wearing introvert who had to borrow a "sexy" outfit from the maid to having a zillion low cut, less than demure dresses I'll never know!)

So, now that I've done my best to say a little "something nice" and a whole lot of "anything at all"s, let me finish knowing that although I'll do my best not to take a piece of this movie with me, I think that, unfortunately, a little piece of it will always stay, well not in my heart, but definitely with me!!