Glee the movie has arrived in theaters and has been receiving sensational reviews, some stating it to be one of the best movies of the summer. Various reviews mentioned brilliant song and dance numbers, fun and witty dialog, and behind the scenes shots showing the cast getting ready for the concert. I'm here to give my insight on the tale about the 3-D event of the summer centering on the musical T.V. show.
Glee 3-D starts out showing thousands of fans of the popular TV show standing in front of the camera and giving the loser sign the show has made popular. The audience, unfortunately, is subjected to watching various die hard fanatics in their Glee attire as they tell the audience who their favorite characters are, and in some cases why they are. Once we get through the sea of Gleeks, we get a backstage look at Rachel Berry, Lea Michele as she shares how she keeps her vocal chords in shape for the show. A few backstage shots, which are mainly the characters getting their makeup put on and saying a few lines. After about ten minutes into the movie, the audience gets to hear their first song, which believe it or not is Don't Stop Believing by Journey, and in a pretty awesome opening we get an intro to cast of characters.
It's here I'll say that a majority of the songs in this movie are only excerpts from the live stage show. Fans looking to hear the complete versions of songs and fantastic dance numbers will be disappointed to hear that most of the songs are only about a minute long. A few numbers are almost the complete song, but these songs are few and far in between. Although I'm not a big fan, I have to admit that the songs they picked have a catchy bumpy beat. A few of the numbers even have a good blend of dancing and special effects, but it is still not enough to call this the best movie of the summer. I'm also here to tell you that the dance numbers the commercials have shown are constantly interrupted with shots of the Glee fans going insane in their seats as they scream in excitement at seeing the cast on stage. To tell you the truth, about half the cinematography focuses on the fans, a majority of which are screaming girls.
In between the shots of screaming fans and show excerpts, the audience is subjected to one of two different scenarios. One scenario is the backstage preparation you were promised. The backstage is really nothing more than one or two members of the cast, acting as their characters in the show, making a couple of quick remarks to the camera, which are weak attempts to get a laugh out of the audience. There is no backstage rehearsals, no warming up dialog, and no good luck rituals, so if you're expecting to see this you'll be disappointed. The other scenario the audience is subjected to is getting an insight into three real life stories about die hard Glee fans who state Glee has changed their lives. Throughout the movie the audience gets to hear about how hard these three kids' lives were and how they were considered freaks/losers. However a shining ray of hope, Glee in this case, came to their rescue and now they are better people because of it. Although it is meant to be emotionally stimulating and inspiring, most of the editing, accompanying music and what the kids say is more eye rolling than anything else. I'm glad the kids' found happiness and acceptance by friends, but the fact their stories were in a movie about the concert made me feel that these stories were used to pump up the already over inflated egos of the Glee cast. These stories really just didn't seem appropriate to be in a concert movie and instead should be in a documentary or a news clip on T.V.
Perhaps the biggest thing that made me mad about this movie was the fact that it was only shot in 3-D. The whole time I watched the film, I found the 3-D pointless as it provided no special benefits to the movie, i.e. better depth in shading or things flying out of the screen. In fact, I found the 3-D more distracting than anything else as I saw the constant shadows of the screaming audience move across the screen taking my eyes away from the film. Thus the only reason I could think of shooting this film in 3-D is that they wanted to make more money at the boxy office.
To finish up this review, Glee 3-D seems to be more of a fan glorification movie than an actual concert movie. Although the songs are sung in the fashion that fans like, and some of the dance work is still as vibrant as ever, the screaming fans, and small song excerpts were really not that impressive. Tie in the fact that the back stage shots are weak and the fan stories that take up the rest of the time feel overacted and you have the mediocre film that is Glee 3-D. The Robbie score for this movie is somewhere between a 4.5-5.0, and I suggest going to see the live show the editors of the movie threw together to make this movie, it's probably a better use of your money. Until next time my friends this is Robbie K signing off.
Please email me at rgkarim@mail.roanoke.edu to provide constructive criticism.
