Set during the miners strike, Billy is the 11 year old son of a widowed miner who stumbles across a ballet class one day on the way to his boxing lesson. The young boy becomes hooked, and while keeping his new found passion secret from his family, Billy's raw talent is noticed by the dance teacher, who encourages him to audition for the Royal ballet. Billy Elliot is a deeply average movie, its not bad, its merely generic and stereotyped. There's a long line of this sort of British comedy drama, which though not as cutely palatable, is effortlessly superior.