American dancer Melea (Cassie Ventura) is attending dance school in her mother’s home town of Capetown, South Africa. For her graduate thesis she plans to stage a hip-hop dance production of Romeo and Juliet in honor of her deceased mother, who was a huge fan of the original play. Melea’s scholarship runs dry, and she is forced to drop out of the school, but she doesn’t let that stop her production. As Melea looks for a job, she rents out and starts renovating an old theater while scoping out dancers to appear in her production. Melea crosses paths with a talented local dancer from The Flats, Ishani (Sibo Mlambo), who seems to have it in for Melea right from the start, telling her to go back to America and stop hanging out in the ghetto. Meanwhile, Melea enlists the help of her boyfriend Erik (Kenny Wormald) to write the music. Local musical celebrity Taj (Clayton Evertson) also offers to write some lyrics, but this causes tension as Erik is afraid that Taj may be trying to make a move on Melea. And Ishani, who’s had a crush on Taj since they were childhood friends, is also worried that Melea is making a move on her man. Can this group overcome their issues and come together to realize Melea’s dream project?

Honey 3: Dare to Dance is the third installment of the franchise, all of which have been directed by Bille Woodruff. I had not seen the first two Honey films prior to seeing this, but that didn’t really matter because the connection to the previous films is tenuous, with just a passing mention that Melea had been a part of Honey Daniels’ dance studio. Honey 3 features some excellent dance sequences that combine African, hip-hop, contemporary and formal dance styles, and Melea’s passion project provides an interesting new take on Romeo and Juliet. While the theater is under renovation, the characters are forced to move their rehearsals elsewhere, and this means some very picturesque locales for the dance sequences.

The diverse cast is quite talented, and really deliver when it comes to the dancing. However, the story itself didn’t feel all that original, but rather an amalgamation of things we’ve seen many times before in this genre of movie. The film opens with with a battle between dance crews in a club. This is where we are first introduced to Melea and her crew, followed by the more African/urban style of Ishani and her crew. I thought the film was going to establish a Capulet/Montague like parallel between these groups and the Romeo & Juliet story-within-the-story, with some tragic romantic pairing between these two social groups being the main driving force of the story. However, this never comes to fruition, and any tensions or issues that are raised between the various pairs of characters are quickly resolved. The film goes for more of a happy, feel good, love of dancing type vibe and any conflicts it tries to establish fall a bit flat, missing any edge or punch to give them weight.

The Blu-ray looks and sounds great. As mentioned earlier, there are some really beautiful, scenic locales for the dance sequence, and these look excellent on the Blu-ray. The picture is crisp and clear and captures all of the dancing and ambiance beautifully. The disc’s audio track provides clear dialogue and showcases the film’s soundtrack. The disc also contains almost 12 minutes of deleted scenes, 14 minutes of extended dance sequences, 10 minutes of behind-the-scenes featurettes, and an audio commentary from the director. The blu-ray comes packed in a standard 2-disc keep case with a slipcover and an insert containing the digital copy code.

Film: (1:36:16)

Blu-ray:
• 1080p / Widescreen 1.78:1
• Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, Portuguese 5.1 DTS Digital Surround, French 5.1 DTS Digital Surround, Hungarian 5.1 DTS Digital Surround, Spanish 5.1 DTS Digital Surround, Polish 5.1 DTS Digital Surround, Russian 5.1 DTS Digital Surround
• Subtitles: English SDH, Portuguese, Bulgarian, Mandarin (Simplified), Mandarin (Traditional), Czech, French, Greek, Hungarian, Korean, Spanish, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Thai, Turkish

DVD:

• 480p / Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1
• Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French

Digital HD (for redemption deadline, see NBCUcodes.com)

• HD Digital copy redeemable via UltraViolet (Universal, Vudu, Flixster or CinemaNow) OR iTunes

Extras:
The same bonus material can be found on both the Blu-ray disc and the DVD

• Deleted Scenes (11:42)
  Collection of 10 short deleted scenes. I think the film could have benefited from some of these being left in as they helped to fill in some gaps/unexplained moments in the story. Play All or select from “Ex-Gangsters” (:32), “Erik and Melea Dance” (:54), “Ms. Lee and the Inspector” (1:24), “Melea Jogs” (:32), “The Lumberyard” (1:26), “Melea Does Not Have the Rent Money” (:21), “Mr. Wright Cries” (1:23), “Erik’s Thesis Recital” (2:54), “Erik and Taj Backstage” (1:17) and “Erik and Taj Backstage Alt” (1:01).
• Extended Dance Sequences (14:22)
  Extended versions of 7 of the film’s 30 dance sequences. Play All or select from “Introduction” (4:19), “Meet Crystal” (1:55), “Street Dancers” (1:38), “Schoolkids” (1:34), “Plate Dance” (1:31) and “Hip-Hop Romeo and Juliet” (3:24).
• Behind the Dance: The Making of Honey 3 (6:03)
  The cast and filmmakers discuss the talented South African dancers and choreographers and learning the varied dance moves and styles. Includes rehearsal footage and interviews with director Billie Woodruff, supervising choreographer Louisa Ann Talbot, choreographers Hoze Jonas, Rudi Smit & Luke De Kock, producer Mike Elliott, and stars Clayton Evertson (“Taj”), Cassie Ventura (“Melea Martin”), Dena Kaplan (“Nadine”), Kenny Wormald (“Erik Wildwood”), Bobby Lockwood (“Laser”) & Sibo Mlambo (“Ishani Mfeke”).
• South African Backdrop (2:22)
  The cast and filmmakers discuss filming in South Africa, and integrating the spirit and culture of Cape Town into the film. Includes behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with supervising choreographer Louisa Ann Talbot, director Billie Woodruff, and stars Kenny Wormald, Sibo Mlambo, Cassie Ventura, Bobby Lockwood, Clayton Evertson & Dena Kaplan.
• Battle Dakota Club (1:58)
  A behind-the-scenes look at filming the big dance battle that opens the film. Includes interviews with director Billie Woodruff and star Dena Kaplan.
• Feature Commentary with Director Bille Woodruff (1:36:16)
  Director Bille Woodruff gives viewers an interesting and informative inside look into the making of the film. He talks about all of the various dance styles and dancers in the film and provides lots of behind-the-scenes stories and production tidbits throughout the film.

Final Thoughts:

Honey 3: Dare to Dance is the third installment of the Honey franchise, but its tenuous connection to the other films means that no prior knowledge of the first two films is required. The film’s story feels more like a retread of what we’ve seen in other dance films, and any conflicts that are raised are resolved too quickly and easily. However, the film does feature some entertaining dance sequences that provide a unique blend of styles. The Blu-ray presentation is excellent and provides a solid set of bonus material. The film is worth a look for fans of the franchise or of dance films in general.