Alice Cooper, monstrueusement rock!

Well - Well - Well!.... Surprise! Surprise!

Not being at all a fan of Alice Cooper (the band) or Alice Cooper (the manufactured stage persona) - I certainly was all set to dislike this "Jekyll & Hyde" rockumentary, big-time. I really was. And, with that, most likely give this show a measly 2-star rating, at best.

But - Hey! - As it turned out - Due to this production having a really talented writing/directing team behind it (who were a trio of Canadian dudes) - I found "Super Duper Alice Cooper" to be genuinely entertaining, for the most part.

Yep. This rockumentary was a very slick and polished presentation that moved along smoothly as an impressive and colourful collage of retro film clips.

Born Vincent Furnier (1948) - This fast-paced, 85-minute rockumentary told the tale of young Vincent's ambitious rise to rock'n'roll fame as he struggled to be different from all the rest - Eventually morphing into a trashy, theatrical stage personality who promoted sex, death & violence.

Ah-yes! But there certainly was a price to be paid for Vincent/Alice's meteoric rise to super-stardom..... Be sure to watch this DVD to find out what price Alice paid for fame & fortune.

If you wanna know the truth - I have never, ever liked (by one iota) the music nor the grimy, grungy, goofy character of Alice Cooper (that absurd stage persona thought up by Vincent Furnier). Never.

To me - Vincent's "Alice" was such an inane and easily dislikable alter-ego, that I'm convinced this bottom-of-the-barrel character could have only been the brain-child of a total buffoon (which, I guess, sums up Furnier).

Despite this celebrity-documentary being very well produced and actually featuring some really first-rate graphics - I, personally, do not think Alice Cooper was, in any way, "Super Duper" (as the title suggests). Nope. I think he was a sniveling dweeb, of the highest order.

And, with that, I sure wish he'd get his hideous "Maybelline Eyes" right out of my face, once and for all.

Probably because Bruce wrote a devastating book about his experiences in the band, and that he had written a lot of the material for the songs and that Alice 'abandoned them' after "Muscle Of Love" sessions were recorded. I think he's had an ax to grind with them ever since. Can't say I totally blame him either. He isn't even mentioned at the end of the film as if he didn't even exist.

Buxton was barely mentioned at all and not having an RIP at the end had to have been deliberate slap in the face on the filmmaker's part. Maybe Buxton was as bitter over the whole thing as Bruce was and the producers of this film followed the input from the management. Some kind of fallout occurred for this to happen

Not to mention, everything is done in voice-over and we don't get to see the participants as they are today. The scenes are done in that CGI diorama overlay style which is fine in some cases but I think overused here.

Overall, a not very satisfying documentary. 3 out of 10 for these glaring omissions.

Super Duper Alice Cooper (2014)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

This here is a highly entertaining documentary taking a look at the Alice Cooper character. Of course, he started out as Vincent Damon Furnier but soon he found himself in a rock and roll band and before long his alter ego became Alice Cooper. Through interviews with him, his wife, his mom, his band, co-writers and his manager we see the rise of the character and the eventual fall.

SUPER DUPER ALICE COOPER is something that fans of the singer are going to love for a number of reasons. The biggest is the fact that there's all sorts of great concert material and a lot of it that I hadn't seen before and this is coming from someone who collected bootlegs at one time. The early concert footage of the Alice Cooper Band was fabulous and really made this something special.

Another great thing is the fact that so many important people are interviewed (including Elton John talking about a concert he saw of Cooper at the Hollywood Bowl) and they help narrate this story. We get a great overview of the early Alice Cooper stuff including the pre- fame days as well as his time with Frank Zappa.

The film's one weakness is the fact that it clocks in at just under 90-minutes and the "Welcome to My Nightmare" era doesn't get talked about until the 57th minute. That tells you that the later portion of the Alice Cooper story is pretty much gone through very quickly and it ends with his comeback special during 1986. Obviously there's a lot of material left out and there's no great discussion of his various albums.

With that said, this documentary really does work as a "document" of the Alice Cooper character. Not really the man but the character and it's interesting to see clips from the 1920 version of DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE shown as a way to show us how Vincent was overtaken by the Alice Cooper character.

Review: I really enjoyed this documentary because it is a in-depth look at the life of a rock star who went from a nobody in Detroit to a somebody in California. The look at the pitfalls of fame such as extreme addiction and how is life outside the spotlight. The directing and screenplay are both incredible. The combination from living pictures to concert footage really make this metal documentary very different than any other. All in all I would give this five out of a possible five stars.