I have to declare straight off the bat that I'm a big fan of Glee. I think it's one of the best dramas to come out of the US in years. It has humour, pathos, it's mostly well acted, has characters you can root for as well as song and dance.
I'm also a big fan of this film which is showing for a limited run of two weeks only.
Glee: The 3D Concert Movie was filmed over two nights, on June 16 and 17, at the Izod Center in East Rutherford New Jersey during their sell-out North American tour.
It's a gleeful (see what I did there?) celebration of song, dance and being different.
Interspersed with the songs, which were all shot in 3D so there's no annoying post-production conversion artefacts like hair appearing to float two metres in front of the face, are interviews with concert-goers as well as three segments about special Glee fans. One is a cheerleader with dwarfism vying for prom queen, another is a young lady with Asperger syndrome and the last is a young gay man. Their stories really bring home the theme of the show, acceptance, that no matter who you are: tall, short, fat, thin, black, white, nerdish, popular or anything in between, everyone is important and everyone has a story to tell.
For a relatively short movie (running time a little shy of an hour and a half) it packs in over a dozen songs pulled from the first two seasons, the short segments and cast interviews (all of whom stay in character). The entire cast of main characters (with the notable exception of Matthew Morrison as Will Schuester) took part in the concert series as well as Academy Award winner Gwyneth Paltrow (Holly Holiday) who appeared for the two movie concerts.
From the opener, Journey's Don't Stop Believin' to the closing number (I don't want to spoil too much), Glee: The 3D Concert Movie is a riotous celebration of humanity in all its forms.
All the genres are covered and you'll find many of your favourite songs are included.
The Dalton Academy Warblers even make a special appearance with the help of an uber cute Mini Warbler.
One small disappointment is the non-inclusion of Jane Lynch's character Sue Sylvester although she appeared heavily in the promotional material in the US. Word is that her parts were edited out of the final cut but will appear on the DVD release.
This film is seriously fun as well as being moving. I recommend any fan of the series or anyone who has kids who are fans of the series to go see it.
