Like so many of the music videos MTV has now moved past, the channel's original film "Turn the Beat Around" needs to be watched for.

The things it can deliver, like high-energy dancing and cool stars, and not the things it can't, like a compelling story.

"Turn the Beat Around" stars the appealing Romina D'Ugo as Zoe, who's 21 and clerking in a store while she pursues her real dream of dancing.

Yes, old-timers, the word "Flashdance" does come to mind, even if that dancer-with-a-dream classic came out five or six years before Zoe was born. Which bothers her not at all.

Zoe loves retro. Her ticket to the top turns out to be a revival of disco. Yup, disco. OMG! That's not just older than Zoe.

It's older than MTV. Aren't there, like, cave paintings of disco? To stay 21st century, the producers skip the original classics in favor of remakes with a contemporary sound and beat.

This also enables them to create contemporary dances, which inspire some of the best scenes in the movie.

Just one mild caution there: Some scenes end up as dancing in the dark, presumably to gracefully camouflage the use of doubles for some of the stars.

The plot, meanwhile, connects familiar dots.

Zoe's mother wanted to be a professional dancer herself, back in disco days, but never got the big break. Now she makes telemarketing calls and is married to a second husband, an indifferent and vaguely unpleasant man.

So Zoe wants to make both her own and her mother's dreams come true, and at least she seems to have the right boyfriend for it: Chris (Adam Taylor Brooks), an aspiring dancer. They're both idling on the fringes of the dance scene, looking in at nasty people like Malika. Malika is played nicely by Brooklyn Sudano, the real-life daughter of Donna Summer. Small world, huh?

Anyhow, Zoe runs into a handsome entrepreneur named Michael (David Giuntoli) right around the time Malika sets her sights on Chris. So while Zoe is talking Michael into opening a disco club, the pressure mounts on her relationship with Chris.

Fortunately, a team of likable dancers provides regular relief from this soapy tale. Jason Derulo also makes his acting debut, playing a recording star. It's not a heavy lift and he handles it adequately. The biggest surprise in "Turn the Beat Around" is that there really is one mild surprise - on the romance side - at the end. But don't count on that one moment to redeem the plot. We came here for the beat and the beat is what's going to take us home.