JONAS BROTHERS: The 3D Concert Experience

JONAS BROTHERS: The 3D Concert Experience (musical)
Cast: Kevin Jonas, Joe Jonas, Nick Jonas, "Big Rob" Feggans, Demi Lovato, Taylor Swift
Director: Bruce Hendricks
Time: 76 mins
Rating: * * 1/2 (2.5 stars)


PREAMBLE: If you are a fan of Hannah Montana, you will probably have heard of the Jonas Brothers. The boys have guest-starred on the show and on the Disney Channel network. Hailing from Wyckoff, New Jersey, the band consists of Kevin, Joe and Nick Jonas. Last summer, the boys starred in the Disney Channel movie Camp Rock. The Jonas Brothers have released three albums: It's About Time (2006), Jonas Brothers (2007), and A Little Bit Longer (2008).

WHAT'S IT ABOUT? This 'rockumentary' is directed by Bruce Hendricks, the guy who helmed the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert last year. The Jonas Brothers had been the opening act while on tour with Cyrus. This 3D Experience comprises concert segments shot during the brothers' Burning Up tour in Anaheim, California (home of Disneyland), and at New York City's Madison Square Garden.

HITS & MISSES: This musical opens with the boys still in bed and getting wake-up calls by their bodyguard 'Big Rob' Feggans. A breakfast briefing follows, and we later see the brothers fleeing hordes of screaming teenybopper fans - a'la the Beatles' A Hard Day's Night. Yes, Hendricks borrows a bit from the Beatlemania of the Sixties and also includes a shot of the brothers watching a TV clip of the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964! However, these sequences are in 2D while the concert scenes are shot in digital 3D.

Among the brothers' repertoire are two new songs, Love Is On Its Way and Live To Party. If the boys lack vocal range, they make up for it with high energy performances, glitz and gimmicks. One of the brothers is very much into gymnastics, doing cartwheels and flip-flops on the stage. Cinematography directors Mitchell Amundsen and Reed Smoot seem to take pleasure in the 3D gimmicks, having drumsticks and guitar picks thrown at our eyes. And if that's not enough, the boys also shoot foam from water hoses at the crowd.

Demi Lovato is the first guest to come on singing her Camp Rock duet. Taylor Swift follows a bit later and bodyguard Feggans does a rap number. Even at 76 minutes, the film feels rather long-drawn, especially when Hendricks includes interviews with fans and Jonas Brothers impersonators. However, he saves their most familiar hits, S.O.S and Burnin' Up for the later part of the show.

THE LOWDOWN: The Jonas boys are being touted as decent, God-fearing chaps and this movie is good clean fun, especially for teeny girls.