Mao's Last Dancer -- Film Review

September 28, 2009 Feel-good movie about a Chinese dancer presses all the right buttons. Veteran Australian director Bruce Beresford's new film, "Mao's Last Dancer," feels almost like a remake of the equally heart-warming "Billy Elliot," but this time around, what the aspiring, "Rocky"-like, against-all-odds dancer is escaping is not working-class ignorance and poverty, but hardline Chinese communist officials. Like most films in this underdog genre, the emotional manipulation of the audience is constant and obvious.

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