Leap 2! The Top of the World

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'Leap 2! The Top of the World (known as Ballerina 2: New Dreams in territories outside the United States and translated from French as Ballerina 2: Dreams of the World') is a American-Canadian-French 2024 3D computer-animated musical adventure film. It was produced by Quad Productions and L'Atelier Animation and distributed by Gaumont and Chronoarts. It is the sequel to the 2016-2017 animated movie Leap! (Ballerina), and was released in theaters worldwide on June 23, 2024. and features returning staff members such as directors Éric Summer and Éric Warin, co-writer Laurent Zeitoun and writer Raymond Boucher, who makes his movie debut. Soundtrack composer Klaus Badelt returns to produce the film score, this time joined by songwriter Lin-Minuel Miranda, who contributes songs dedicated to the film's characters and scenes à la Disney's animated features.

The story takes place one and a half years after the original movie, and involves protagonists Félicie and Victor traveling with the latter's long-lost friend Hubert and participating in a worldwide talent competition.

Most of the original voice cast from the previous film such as Elle Fanning, Maddie Ziegler, Carly Rae Jepsen and Kate McKinnon reprise their original characters. However, new actors make an appearance in the film such as Jadon Sand (who replaces Dane DaHaan and Nat Wolff as Victor), Emma Watson, Gael García Bernal, and James Earl Jones. Raymond Boucher also stars in the voice role of the deuteragonist Hubert.

Plot
The movie begins with an introduction by Félicie summarizing the events of the first movie, before transitioning to summer of 1881, one and a half years later. The now 13-year old orphans Félicie the ballerina and Victor the genius inventor are paid a visit by Hubert, a journalist and long-time friend of Victor, who invites them to a public meeting at the Concorde square. They along with Odette, foster mother of Félicie and Victor, gather at the square and learn of the European Invitational Dream Competition from its top staff members Eugene Lateur, Dimitri Nilovich Rankovsky II, and Sir Gregory Innes. Excited to show their passions around the world, Félicie and Victor are the first to register as competitors. After one week of training with the aid of dance master Louis Mérante and Camille, Félicie's former dance rival, Félicie departs with Victor, Hubert, and Matty (Victor's engineering partner) to England, the first country to host the competition. The youthful band of competitors form their "Dream Team", with Hubert as their chaperone.

Upon arriving at London, England, the Dream Team crosses paths with two twin musicians Viola, a violinist, and Alice, a pianist, in addition to competing Spanish artist Samuel, who begins a rivalry with Victor. Félicie easily makes friends with Alice and Viola and learns folk dancing, while Samuel challenges Victor's patience and dedication to the point of pulling pranks and outright sabotaging the young genius' projects. Félicie succeeds in the dancing contests, Viola and Alice win first place in the folk music contests; unfortunately, Victor and Matty score a measly fourth place in the engineering contests. As a result of his pride being wounded, the inventor grows bitter towards Samuel and his charisma and feels doubtful of his own talents when compared to his friends. Unbeknownst to everyone, EIDC chief director Dimitri goes missing for unknown reasons.

At the end of the first week of the competition, a crime boss named Desperado and his mafia gang Los Desperados Perfectos break Régine Le Haut out of prison. Seeking vengeance, she and Desperado strike a deal that the latter and his partners will become the most powerful criminals in the world if they hunt down and assassinate "the two orphans who tarnished [her] fame".

The competition travels to Rome, Italy, on the second week. Victor is determined not to let Samuel keep him down, but the conceited artist's pride for Rome's famous art and architecture irritates him. Hubert attempts to help his friend by trying to get Samuel to know the team better. After a few days, Samuel invites Félicie to a romantic dinner, which ends up hurting Victor's feelings, causing him to withdraw himself from others. On the day of the semi-final contests, Félicie dances an abridged version of the ballet Giselle and is praised by the audience and judges. Suddenly, Régine, Desperado and his criminal gang attack and pursue Félicie. With encouragement from Hubert and Matty that Félicie still cares for him, Victor saves his best friend and the criminals are incapacitated with the unexpected help of Samuel.

To celebrate the friends' reconciliation, Viola and Alice organize a party outside the Colosseum and give a special performance where Alice plays a love song on piano as Félicie and Victor dance romantically. Samuel sees that his rival was more than what he assumed and paints a lovely portrait of the ongoing event. The combined efforts earn the competitors high awards from the spectators, with Samuel receiving first place in the art contests. Although Hubert congratulates the group, he does not seem happy. His discontent is revealed when news spread of the criminal outbreaks in Rome and tell of Dimitri, Desperado's true identity, conspiring against the competition. After Dimitri's arrest, the competition's co-director Eugene assumes the position of head director and promises greater safety under stricter management.

Odette, Louis Mérante and Camille arrive in Amsterdam, Holland, out of concern for the Dream Team. Despite everything they have heard about, the group remains confident in their abilities, especially Victor, who is thankful for Samuel's help. Thus, the two have an increasingly friendlier relationship with each other despite their rivalry. Victor finds inspiration for his projects in the canals of Amsterdam, Viola and Alice learn and adapt the Dutch style of music, and Félicie impresses Mérante with her dancing.

However, Hubert feels pressured after Eugene forces him to report what the public thinks rather than finding out if Dimitri was really responsible for the chaos in Italy, after the former expressed uncertainty. His best friend Victor catches on to this and begs Hubert to tell him his woes, however, the latter snaps at him out of stress and says "You all don't know what you've gotten yourselves into!". Victor mistakes this as Hubert lying about his faith in the team, and his lifelong friend leaves dejected. Shortly after, two of Dimitri's crime partners appear on the streets, and the young inventor hides and eavesdrops on them, worried about Hubert after their fight.

On the day of the third semi-final contests, the Dream Team discovers that Hubert boarded a train back to France, whose letter says he feels guilt for making their situation worse, as their contest scores have been lowered due to their talents being deemed not worthy of recognition among more experienced people. Most of the group considers giving up their dreams, a secret note attached to Hubert's letter tells Félicie and Victor, "People outside the competition have the power to influence its management". While this was true for Eugene becoming EIDC director after people demanded someone more trustworthy, both orphans and eventually the rest are encouraged to willingly leave the competition to gain the attention of people and the EIDC staff. Sir Gregory Innes, unaware of their plan, promptly resets their scores after their absence goes noticed. News of the group's departure spread throughout Europe, and the youthful dreamers gain a large amount of support and demand to come back over the next two days. Camille and Odette write a letter to 'someone special', believing they can help make their return grand.

The fourth and final week of the competition is attended at Moscow, Russia. An opening ceremony parade is given in honor of all the hard-working competitors, with Dimitri's son Rudolph (the same Rudolph who danced at the Paris Opera Ballet in the original film) being one of the honorable mentions. To everyone's surprise, he accompanies the Dream Team, who perform the marching song that was performed during their departure from Paris. It is revealed that he is the one that Camille contacted for assistance, and the group gives an encouraging speech to all the fellow competitors. Hubert, who watches amongst the crowd, is inspired upon Victor's acknowledgement of him and his apology.

After their happy reunion with Hubert, the Dream Team spend most of the contest days more determined than ever to show the best of their talents, and their reset positions skyrocket in the ranks. The junior reporter gives strong advice to the team and goes undercover to find out the real reason for the strictness of the competition system, suspecting Eugene after his reaction of shock at their return earlier. Félicie and Rudolph wish each other luck in an upcoming performance of "Swan Lake" which both are dancing in.

Things get more serious, however, as Régine and Los Desperados return with Dimitri, who escaped from prison thanks to the help of his men. The former restaurant owner plots a way to turn the tables on Félicie and Victor by blackmailing Camille into coming back to her, lest she lose her family birthright. Louis Mérante suggests that Odette go in Camille's place in order to find out what exactly Régine plans to do with the criminals. Félicie worries when Odette reluctantly agrees, but is encouraged never to lose hope and trains for her big performance in the grand finals. Meanwhile, Dimitri leaves the villainous trio, suspicious that his expulsion from the EIDC staff was predestined.

To be worked on.

Cast

 * Elle Fanning as Félicie Lebras Milliner, a star ballerina at the Paris Opera Ballet.
 * Jadon Sand as Victor François Xavier, an excitable young inventor and Félicie's best friend. Sand replaces Dane DaHaan/Nat Wolff from the original film. Jared S. Gilmore provides Victor's singing voice.
 * Raymond Boucher as Hubert, a junior reporter and Victor's long-time pen pal.
 * Josh Gad as Matty, Victor's engineering partner. (Replaces Tamir Kapelian)
 * Emma Watson as Viola and Alice, two twin musician sisters from London, England.
 * Gael García Bernal as Samuel, a charismatic Spanish artist and Victor's main rival.
 * Maddie Ziegler as Camille Le Haut, Félicie's former dance rival.
 * Carly Rae Jepsen as Odette, a cleaner and foster mother of Félicie.
 * Terrence Scammell as Louis Mérante, the choreographer of the Paris Opera Ballet.
 * Kate McKinnon as Régine Le Haut, the antagonist of the original film. (Voices Régine in both the US and international English versions)
 * James Earl Jones as Dimitri Nilovich Rankovsky II, the chief director of the European Invitational Dream Competition.
 * Leonardo DiCaprio as Eugene Lateur, the co-director of the European Invitational Dream Competition.
 * Liam Neeson as Sir Gregory Innes, the EIDC scorekeeper and contest regulator.
 * Tamir Kapelian as Rudolph Dimitriev Rankovsky III, a Russian dancer and the son of Dimitri.
 * Soshana Sperling as Nora, one of Félicie's dance classmates at the Paris Opera Ballet.
 * Elena Dunkleman as Dora, another classmate of Félicie at the Paris Opera Ballet.

Soundtrack
The film soundtrack album was released on June 16, 2024, a week before the movie's theatrical release. It features twelve vocal songs written by Lin-Minuel Miranda and Raymond Boucher, including a cover of "Dream" from the 2021 Broadway musical adaptation of the original movie (which does not appear in the actual film), and a brand new score by Klaus Badelt, composer of the previous movie's soundtrack. Unlike the first movie, the vocal songs are written to reflect characters and scenes in the story, in order to address criticisms drawn toward the original film's vocal pop songs mismatching with the late 19th-century setting.

1. Dream (Lin-Minuel Miranda Ver.) - Lin-Minuel Miranda, Company

2. On the Horizon - Raymond Boucher, Lin-Minuel Miranda

3. Grand New Adventure (The Marching Song) - Raymond Boucher, Jared S. Gilmore, Elle Fanning, Maddie Ziegler, Carly Rae Jepsen, Josh Gad, Company

4. The Little Music Twins - Emma Watson

5. Try Hard - Gael García Bernal, Jared S. Gilmore, Josh Gad, Emma Watson

6. Perfect Criminals - Kate McKinnon, James Earl Jones

7. Love Never Far Apart - Emma Watson, Elle Fanning, Jared S. Gilmore

8. This Storm - Raymond Boucher

9. On the Horizon (Reprise) - Dream Team (Elle Fanning, Jared S. Gilmore, Josh Gad, Gael García Bernal, Emma Watson, minus Raymond Boucher), Lin-Minuel Miranda, Company

10. Grand New Adventure (Reprise) - Tamir Kapelian, Dream Team, Company

11. A Distant Harmony - Dream Team, Company

12. Sunrise - Lin-Minuel Miranda