Welcome to Moving Cheers, the new series on Cheer Channel where we will review cheerleaders in movies and television, with an eye to both the latest hits and the classics of yesterday. Directors and writers know that cheerleaders are beautiful but they don't always recognize that they are hard-working athletes. Cheer fans want to see their sport shown in a positive, spirited, fun-loving light -- but we should also be able to laugh at ourselves from time to time. Moving Cheers will highlight some of the best and the worst.

To begin our series, we're going back to the year 2000 to look at a classic cheerleading film. Destined to become not only a popular film about the struggles of high school life but a favorite among cheerleaders everywhere, Bring It On remains a much loved film 11 years later. Though the film made twice its budget in theaters, inspired a stage musical and launched a series of straight-to-video sequels, beginning with Bring It On: All or Nothing in 2004, its popularity endures beyond simple sales figures.

Bring It On opens with a musical dream sequence that immediately sets the tone. In other high school movies, cheerleaders are often used to antagonize the less popular, nerdy main character. This hilarious first scene openly acknowledges the stereotypes around cheerleaders -- that they are popular and cute, and often at the top of the social ladder.

Torrance Shipman, played by real-life celebrity cheerleader Kirsten Dunst, might be on top of the world with a handsome (but absent) boyfriend and her new role as cheer captain. But she's been plagued with bad luck ever since she dropped the spirit stick at cheer camp. Things only get worse when new recruit Missy Pantone arrives -- played by Eliza Dushku with the same rebellious spirit she brought to her role as Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Missy reveals that The Toros championship cheer routines are actually stolen from inner-city cheerleaders The Clovers. Can the Toros win again, but this time honestly?

Though the film is often laugh out loud funny, it also clearly loves the sport of cheerleading and the athletes who perform. Director Peyton Reed required all actors to perform a cheer routine with their audition, and Bring It On is full of gorgeously filmed cheer performances. Like Clueless (1995) and its big-hearted valley girl, Bring It On makes jokes at the expense of our assumptions about cheerleaders, but also seeks to show how the truth is much deeper and more complex.

In our profile of Kirsten Dunst, Cheer Channel wrote that Bring It On "is about never looking back on past mistakes, but looking forward to positive performances." When Clovers cheerleader Lava, played by R&B singer Shamari Fears, calls cheerleaders "inspiration leaders" you get the feeling the cast and crew believe it too. If you've never seen this great film before, what's stopping you? And if you have, isn't it time for another visit with the Toros?