Writer: Naseem Randhawa

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Watch this if you liked: "Justin Bieber: Never Say Never", "Michael Jackson's This Is It" & "Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience"

Part of me is not a musical, a concert film or a rise & fall biopic story of Katy Perry, "Part Of Me" like its name, presents a part of Perry's life as a reigning Popstar, offering bits and pieces of who she really is on stage and off it. The movie is not for the everyday moviegoer of course, but catered more for her fans and curious music aficionados who want to distinguish what it means to exhibit great showmanship as an artiste.

Laden with concert footage filmed on a decadent stage full of colour, sparkle and glitter, "Part Of Me" is visually stunning with all its costumes (particularly Perry's red and white costume with the two spinning candy chest wheels that marks her entrance the beginning of the show) as the whole visual expect of the movie boasts spectacular 3D effects enhancing Perry's charming performance on stage serenading audiences with her hit songs; "I Kissed A Girl", "E.T.", "California Girls", "Teenage Dream", "Thinking Of You", "Fireworks" and of course the title song "Part Of Me".

Serving itself to be more like a visual electronic press kit similar to Justin Bieber's "Never Say Never" with its usual 'how it all started when I was young' anecdote, the movie however takes a faintly different route drawing out unexpected emotions which one would not expect from a documentary movie chronicling a bubblegum Popstar.

Just shortly before "Part Of Me" was released, news of Perry and her comedian husband Russell Brand's marriage falling apart in shatters were splashed unceremoniously all over the news front, but that didn't stop the newly divorced Popstar from using early footage showing Brand coming over to visit Perry at the start of the tour, being the perfect depiction of two mesmerised lovebirds, to then gradually showing how Brand fades from her presence leaving a sobbing Perry on the verge of a meltdown minutes before one of her big shows. Audiences can't help but to feel a deep sense of empathy for Perry as she finally gathers herself up, wiping the sadness in her face in an instant to hit the stage with a smile plastered on at the very last minute.

Of course, there are the happy bits as well, particularly when Perry visits her sweet grandma in Las Vegas who hilariously provides her unfiltered opinions on her granddaughter and her extravagant shows.

The 3D effects are interesting enough when it warrants itself to appear on screen, but hardly necessary as it will soon be forgotten as soon as the 3D scenes flashes by. The visual aspect of the movie is already interesting enough on its own, so if you're banging your fists on the floor and crying out loud wanting desperately to be at a full-fledged Katy Perry concert, then you should check this out!

Cinema Online, 26 August 2012