DOCUMENTARY; 1hr 24min
DIRECTED BY: Kevin Tancharoen
“Believe!” Morris and Colfer
Not being a Gleek or remotely related to anybody who is, I had no pressing expectations for “the immersive magic of a 3D motion picture theatrical event.” Of course, I knew the kids could sing. Everyone and their pet hamster knows that. But a documentary about their 2010 Glee Live! In Concert! North American tour — or, more accurately, about two days of it, filmed at New Jersey’s Izod Centre — complete with backstage footage of the characters “as they’ve never been seen before”? Well! Now! Could Kurt (Chris Colfer), Mercedes (Amber Riley), Brittany (Heather Morris) and their fellow Thomas McKinley High School clubbers possibly stack up under such penetrating scrutiny?
Yes, they can! This is a love fest from go to wow. Just mix a psyched, humungous audience with the Glee team in great, gutsy voice and spirits through the soaring roof and let the patented magic happen. The to-camera confidences from fans, liberated by the TV series’ can-do spirit, are predictably rhapsodic and sweetly self-revelatory, and the anthemic numbers — “Raise Your Glass”, “Don’t Rain on My Parade”, “Don’t Stop Believin’”… — are bursts of sunshine for the converted. I didn’t show up that way but such all-inclusive positivity does tend to do the trick.
