Katy Perry: Part of Me

There have been tons of concert movies that have come out, but unless you're a fan they really have a limited audience. With the latest Katy Perry: Part of Me they do something a bit different than just deliver another concert film, but instead an inside look at the creation and execution of Perry's tour, but also a documentary aspect telling about her career and personal victories and heartaches throughout.

What's good about this film is that you don't have to be a fan of her music to find it interesting. On one side you get the Behind the Music vibe of her career wrapped in a big bow of making of the concert, sprinkled with numerous performances of her on stage. While all this is entertaining in itself, what really takes this film outside of the norm is the closer look at her personal life and emotions that she deals with while struggling to deal with life, marriage, and an unbelievable tour schedule. Here they never shy away from showing her raw moments of breaking down from pushing herself just as much as the glamour and fun of her seemingly magical world she has created around her. It's refreshing to see a star of her caliber that feels like a down to earth girl who made it big time and now just happens to be one of the biggest stars in the world. Of course there will be those that think some of it is just playing to the camera and who knows, but really who cares. The entire vibe she has created seems to bring more happiness to the world and her fans and seeing the amount of work and actual creative control she has it really impressive for someone still so young.

Like her music or not, this film is so much more than that. This is a behind the scenes look at the side of music you don't see very often. Every star has their ways of doing things, but here seeing what Perry, and obviously many others like her go through both personally and physically to deliver what the fans clamor for should give you a new respect for both her and the performers in general. What's really crazy is that you can't help but enjoy this movie due to the simple fact that it exhumes joy on every level. It's like you fell off a cloud into a real life candy land and will bring a smile to your face.

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Katy Perry: Part of Me, was, to be completely honest, okay. It was indeed interesting to learn about Katy Perry's off stage life, and on stage life, but the movie sadly dragged it out to much. It was too long for a sort of movie like it was. It, at some parts, got extremely boring. If you love watching movies about singers or actresses lives off and on stage than this movie is for you. But if you don't like it when they drag movies out and put stuff in there that is extremely pointless than this movie is definitely not for you. Katy Perry: Part of Me was just one of those movies that when nothing else is really on you turn it on and watch it. Of course if you love Katy Perry, then this Katy Perry movie is going to have you glued to the television. I am not a big fan of her, but the movie wasn't bad, just dragged out.

IF you're a fan of US singer Katy Perry, you'll love this

autobiographical concert movie of her songs and life.

If you don't know anything about her, you'll still enjoy the movie as it follows the structure of these kind of movies: it has many concert performances and interviews with her family, friends and fans about what a great singer and person she is.

The movie follows her on a year-long tour last year to promote her album, which produced five No. 1 hits, the first for a female artiste.

The movie would have been a normal one but for the way it milks her divorce from British comedian Russell Brand for all it's worth. Brand filed for divorce in December 2011 after 14 months of marriage.

It shows what led to the divorce (him wanting to have a baby; she not being interested in becoming a mum now) and then her finally accepting the divorce, complete with a breakdown, just before the start of her concert in Sao Paolo, Brazil. She even contemplates cancelling the concert.

This will certainly brings tears to many, as it did to me.

I enjoyed her concert shows as they were vibrant, energetic and colourful. "Thank you for accepting my weirdness," she tells the camera and her fans.

Her niceness permeates the movie, and you can see why her mostly white fans adore her, dress like her, mime her lyrics and say how much she inspires them and gives them hope.

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There are some very miserable spiteful reviews on here. They usually contain such revelations as 'I don't like Katy Perry's music and hated this movie'. Er... what are you doing watching a film about Katy Perry if you don't like Katy Perry's music. I know, you came to be bored and to dislike it and you succeeded. The film contains a very revealing and surprising story about a genuinely gifted songwriter breaking out of her strict religious upbringing and rising to the very highest peak that anybody could possibly wish for. She did it through shear determination and spirit. She did not get it handed to her. She was in fact jerked around by all the record companies and almost sunk until, in one memorable quote, one of the young female execs stole her music from the company and 'snuck out' with it, so that she would be free to find success at another label which had people of some imagination and vision instead of the lame egotistical dicks that she was tied to at that time. Her message is absolutely positive, absolutely empowering and liberating for young girls, and the concert footage shows just how transcendent that message becomes for them at the live shows. She is not sleazy or nasty or stupid. If I had a daughter I would strongly approve of her being a 'Katy cat'. I enjoyed every minute of this documentary. Those who hated it are most likely sad old men or jealous bitches. I reckon.

When I say I'm a non Katy fan, I don't mean I dislike her. I just mean I've only heard her on the radio. Which, if you live in the free world, is basically every time you turn the radio on.

I started watching this movie expecting it to be your standard mega-produced, glamorous, glitzy promotion like most insanely successful pop stars put out. It sort of began that way, with spectacular concert footage cutting to clips of screaming kids singing along in the street, a few airplanes, exotic locations, makeup room shots of the star, blah blah blah, it's really a canned formula. But pretty soon the tone shifted dramatically and took us right to her humble origins. That's when things started getting interesting because the film becomes less about the "celebrity du jour" but instead it becomes a unique story of how a normal person became the "celebrity du jour". So I decided to watch a little longer.

I won't go into her life details which everyone but me probably knew already, but she really is the quintessential rebel, a preacher's daughter who began singing Christian songs in her teens, but then left her conservative home for L.A. and, well, started writing songs like "I Kissed a Girl". It could've been fun if the filmmakers had played up the drama & controversy of this break from her puritanical upbringing, but they decided not to go there. The movie remains wholesome and family friendly throughout. Aww, bummer, I thought and again played with the idea of changing the channel to reruns of "The Headbanger's Ball".

But then... ah yes, here's where the real fun begins. Although I see other reviewers have complained about this movie milking her shaky marriage to comedian Russell Brand, I thought that angle is precisely what made it a great documentary. Not because I was drooling over the saucy details of celebrity love lives, but because this theme is excellently woven into to the age old motto of the performing artist since the first stage was built: "The show must go on".

And that, mixed with electrifying performances, some bits of humor and of course screaming teens, is how "Part of Me" becomes a great experience, especially for those of us (performers or not) who have ever had to suppress our own misery and hardship for the sake of "the show". The film pulls no punches. It shows Katy at her best and her worst on this 300+ day tour that ended up rocketing her career while practically destroying her personal life.

I highly recommend this film to performing & touring musicians of all genres. I also recommend this to anyone who is struggling to balance a career with a family life. My only disappointment is that it didn't feature as much behind-the-scenes music (rehearsals, jams, etc), instead focusing more on stage production & dance choreography. It's all impressive, but I would've loved to see the guitarist practicing his solos, or Katy singing alongside a piano. Instead all the music is from the show, produced and polished without any blemishes that make rehearsals fun to watch.

My favorite tour video of ALL TIME is called "Anvil! The Story of Anvil" which is an unintentionally hilarious look at a metal band's comeback attempt. That's the raw stuff I like to see. "Katy Perry Part of Me" is on polished side, but it still delivers a very human story with a lot of value. So, yes, I recommend this movie. It didn't make me fall asleep. In fact you could say "I'm wide awake" (boo hisss)