Glee: The 3D Concert Movie

Glee The 3D Concert Movie: This concert edition of the worldwide hit TV show, Glee, features performances from the concert by the cast and interviews with the cast and the fans.

Songs performed from the show include standard fare like "Somebody to Love" "Don't Rain on My Parade" and "Don't Stop Believing", but it also has more recent Season 2 material. I was pleased to see "River Deep, Mountain High" and "Ain't No Way". Gwenyth Paltrow also shows up to sing "Forget You". Really, none of the numbers hit a bum note. "Valerie" and "Slave 4 U" have some kickass dance numbers, and Finn, Puck and Artie all bring it with "Jessie's Girl" "Fat Bottomed Girls" and "P.Y.T". My favorites though have to be the Warblers. Darren Criss and his group of blazer boys are the perfect combo of charm, dance and harmony. Really, you either love Glee or you don't, and this is not likely to convert the non-fans.

However, despite my praise and love of the show, musical numbers and cast, I have some major criticisms. The movie is about an hour and a half long, with an extra half hour of ads (Thanks Fox!) on top of that. But once the concert gets going, there's always a break for an interview with a fan with a story. There's a girl with red hair and Aspergers who loves the show. There's a gay kid who looks up to Kurt. And there's a dwarf cheerleader who goes to prom. None of them are interesting, and they actively detract from the experience. I'm sorry guys, but I JUST DON'T CARE. The show has touched you. You see yourself as one of the cast. So does everyone else.

It's a concert movie, guys. It shouldn't be possible to screw this up, but they did. The sole exception in the distractions was this 4 year old Asian child in a Warbler blazer who has memorized the song and dance routines and performs them in his living room. He actually made the show for me by being freaking adorable and hilarious. But the rest of the non-concert activity was the equivalent of an exciting action movie interrupted every 5 minutes with a screen-filling ad for life insurance. It's irritating filler, and fans deserve better.

The filler feels like a concealed middle finger to fans who didn't pay to see the concert live. The extra cash required to see the film in 3D (we saw the early bird special, so money saved there) adds insult to injury. 3D adds nothing except cash to studio pockets.

Bottom line, the musical numbers were great (refreshing to not hear as much audio enhancement), but they're nothing you could not see by re-watching the show, and there weren't enough of them. The non-concert related material sinks the show. And where is Matthew Morrison? Oh yeah, doing his solo concert. Disappointment. I can't really recommend forking out the extra cash for this one. For hardcore Gleeks only. Love Glee but I hate you Ryan Murphy.
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