My girls day out with my daughter finally arrived yesterday! It was centered around the new One Direction biopic movie, "This Is Us". It premiered August 30th. We managed to sneak in some shopping and dinner out before the movie.
Concert/biographical movies are interesting to review. I mean, you're not really critiquing the story line per se, the casting, the cinematography. You either like these guys, like they way they have presented themselves, or you don't. I breezed very lightly through a few "cast your vote" style reviews online and I have to take them with a grain of salt. A few of the reviews were very low, but it's my gut feeling that it is people who hate boy bands and are just casting their negative vote. Some were 5 stars, taking those with a grain of salt, too, if it's purely fans clicking through and showing their support. But does that even really matter?
I came to the movie a groupie fan of One Direction. Obviously, I was bringing my daughter, but honestly, I like their music, too. I loved boy bands when I was younger and I still like them. Their music is catchy and they're cute. Do you need much more?
So, in terms of breaking down the movie in review-style, I will touch on a few points. The first would be the 3D presentation of the film (you could elect to do 2D or 3D). We saw it in 3D, but I don't think this was a must do. Some of the concert footage was obviously enhanced being 3D, but nothing spectacular. Half the film is documentary-style, and that certainly does not become improved in 3D.
With documentaries, I always think a little about the authenticity. You know you're being filmed, so are you being yourself? Is this really what they are like? There were two scenes that were very contrived in the movie: when Harry and Liam go fishing and when the group go camping. Although contrived, it genuinely seemed like these would be activities that they would do together.
The concert footage was great and touched on all their hits. It will definitely be a crowd pleaser for any One Direction fan. We also get a glimpse of their parents in the film and this was a nice touch. We get to see that ultimately, these are goofy, normal 20-somethings who have been granted the biggest break of their lives----and they are loving it, as well as admitting to being slightly daunted by the lack of their privacy.
As for my daughter.....yep, Harry is still her favorite.
