2003, PG-13, 94 minutes

Thirteen-year-old girls of the world, rejoice: Honey is here. For those who weren't around twenty years ago to see Jennifer Beals strut her stuff in Flashdance, this hip-hop dance concoction might seem fresh. For the rest of us, Honey follows a too-familiar rags-to-riches formula of a talented dancer from the streets who makes it against all odds, on her own terms.

Honey Daniels (Jessica Alba) is a record-store employee/hip-hop dance teacher by day, bartender/party girl by night. While getting her groove on at a club one night, Honey is discovered by music video director Michael Ellis (David Moscow). Michael invites the gorgeous Honey to a dance audition, but our homegirl is nobody's fool. "Every guy's a director when he wants some booty!" she tells best friend Gina, played by Joy Bryant.

The director is legit, and Honey turns into an overnight sensation in the hip-hop dance world. She stays true to her roots, however, maintaining interest in her Brooklyn neighborhood and in two abused and neglected boys (Lil' Romeo and Zachary Isaiah Williams) from her dance class. Honey even finds a new love in Chaz (Mekhi Phifer), a nice barber from her 'hood. Her dream of turning an empty local store into her own dance studio for kids is on track, thanks to her newfound financial success.

Before long, Honey becomes a star hip-hop choreographer, and the world is her oyster. Then the sleazy director takes Honey to a party and tries to have his way with her. When she refuses (she'll achieve success only on her own terms, remember), Honey Daniels is finished in the music business as quickly as she arrived. Being the survivor that she is, Honey picks herself up, dusts herself off, and plans a benefit dance show to finance her studio.

Honey is completely predictable and cliché-ridden, but the movie benefits hugely from the charisma and star presence of Alba (from TV's Dark Angel). More than just a pretty face, Alba plays her role with complete sincerity and inexhaustible energy -- she makes the movie watchable. Unfortunately, the screenplay is little more than a string to hold a bunch of dance numbers together, and the end result amounts to essentially a 90-minute music video (not surprisingly, first-time director Bille Woodruff is a video veteran). Woodruff has assembled a better supporting cast than the movie deserves, with Phifer (8 Mile) and Bryant (Antwone Fisher) doing their best with underwritten roles as Honey's support team.

The young target audience for Honey gets plenty of positive messages to go along with all the bumping and grinding. Stay off drugs, be true to yourself, don't sell out -- these messages are repeated throughout the movie. What will Honey do when the mean video director wants her back, due to demands from hip-hop diva Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott? Will she stay true to herself? Will she sell out? Will her success be on her terms?

Impressionable young girls will probably like Honey, with its heart-of-gold heroine being a positive role model. The target audience can overlook the fact that the story of Honey Daniels has been told countless times before in better movies. The rest of us will just be waiting for the impressive Jessica Alba to find a decent script.