Justin Bieber: Never Say Never

Whether you love or hate the kid, there's no disputing on how immensely popular he's become within the past few years. Even Usher admits that it usually takes bands/musicians at least two or three years to achieve the level of constant sold out concerts, but Bieber seems to have done it with ease within his first year and a half worth of his career. And to think, he's barely getting started too. However, is he another fad destined to burn out like the "Backstreet Boys" or "N' Sync" before him? Or will he become like "Michael Jackson" where sure he enjoys a long fruitful success, but he finds himself robbed of his childhood. Who's to say? Only time will tell. However, I'm not here to discuss my assessments on whether or not Justin has the potential of having a long lasting career. No, my business is to discuss his new documentary, "Justin Bieber: Never Say Never."

Before I get into my review, I will say coming into this movie that I was completely indifferent about him. Although, I have heard about him before, but I never bothered to listen to any of his songs. Let alone even bothered to care anything about him at all. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Justin Bieber hater either, as I just don't choose to follow him. However, that's why I feel I'm probably the best person to analyze and assess this film. I apologize if that sounds egotistical to say, but I'm just making a simple observation. After all, a Justin Bieber lover would obviously give this film a perfect review, as it caters more to them. While a Justin Bieber critic, he/she would say that this documentary is nothing more than a commercialized piece of garbage to promote his name. How do I feel about it? Well, lets get into that now shall we.

As some of you may know, Justin Bieber is arguably one of the hottest teen phenomenons of this decade, and it doesn't look to be slowing down anytime soon. The documentary follows Justin's humble beginnings as a child, to his inevitable peak to stardom; leading all the way up to his performance in front of a sold out crowd at Madison Square Garden. The film also chronicles how Justin's love for music eventually grew over time, as well as his families support of his career. Heck, it even offers various interviews from his fans that aren't too shy to voice their love for the talented young singer, as you'll be quite surprised how many young girls claim they'll be the first one to marry him. Ah, to be young and naive.

To say that this documentary isn't a bit biased would be naive. Of course, it's biased. Hell, they dedicated five minutes of the damn movie to saying how much people love his freaking hair! In fact, outside of the meager twenty minutes where it showed how Bieber sometimes fears that his career maybe stealing away his childhood, due to Madonna's thoughts on Michael Jackson's life, the rest of the film pretty much caters to Justin Bieber lovers.

Which sadly means that this film is catered solely to Justin's fans. Not that I would ever say that's a bad thing but as I always say about Michael Moore's controversial documentaries, it fails to be unbiased. Something that I always value more in any documentary that I see; regardless of the topic. Sure, it's great if you're already a huge Justin Bieber fan, but I doubt seriously this film will convert any haters and/or indifferent individuals into becoming fans of his anytime soon.

As for the 3-D cinematography, I have some mixed feelings about that as well. On the one hand, I thought the 3-D effects were very well done, and truly brought out the thrill of his concerts. On the other hand, I know it's nothing more than a cheap gimmick. Seriously, why does this movie need to be in 3-D? Is there any artistic purpose to it? Or is it just a cheap gimmick to try and force Bieber fans to pay an extra few bucks to see his damn movie? I don't know about you, but I'm thinking it's the latter. The reality is that no documentary, unless you count space ones, have no business being shot in 3-D. Don't get me wrong, if Justin Bieber had shot like a music video for this documentary, then I could understand as the cinematography could have used to express some artistic expression.

However, when your shooting an entire documentary based solely on his life and live concerts, then how is it even necessary? The quick answer to that is that it's not necessary. Regardless of how you want to spin it, "Justin Bieber: Never Say Never" had no business being featured in 3-D, as there's no artistic justification for it. None.

As for the rest of the film, I have to say that I can see why so many fans like him so much. At first, I thought the only reason was because he's considered cute to a lot of young girls. That's all. However, when I watched the documentary, it turns out there's a lot more to him than that. On stage, he seems to resonate a lot of enthusiasm that comes across rather well in his stage performance, as well as his songs. Sure, the lyrics he sings generically suck, to be quite honest. Plus, he seems to be in desperate need to brush up on his stage choreography a bit, but his energy and enthusiasm for what he does really shine through in his performance. If he can brush up on his choreography and lyrics a bit, then he might have a long lasting career. However, I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Overall, I'm not hating or promoting this movie in anyway, as I think it would be foolish to expect this film to be anything more than what's expected of it. We all know that "Justin Bieber: Never Say Never" is a documentary catered to all his adoring fans, and it does so quite well. In fact, I think all Justin Bieber fans will come to love this film. However, I think if your like me and you really never liked him to begin with, then your obviously going to hate it. Sure, there may be a few tidbits here and there where you find it interesting to learn about him but as I said before, this film is primarily catered for Justin Bieber fans only.

In the end, I'd have to give this film a two and a half out of four. I know that's probably shocking to some people, but please hear me out on this before judgment. Whenever I review any film (regardless of genre or hype), I always factor in the target audiences' perception and the film maker's intent. If you watch the film, it's obvious the movie was made to promote Justin Bieber to his fans and glorify him to the public. On that note, it succeeds. Plus, when I was in the theater, all the fans there had nothing but good things to say about it. Therefore, as I stated earlier, I have to be fair. Unlike other film critics that would base a film review solely on their opinions and research, I always make it a point to factor in target audience and film maker's intent as well; hence the two and a half out of four rating.

So to all you Justin Bieber fans out there, this film is made just for you. Everyone else....I would advise you to stay away from this film at all costs....