Review: Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience

1st June 2009

By Robert Mann.

Following the smash hit success of last year’s Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour at the US box office, Disney quickly looked to making a 3D concert movie for another one of their pop sensations – the Jonas Brothers. However, with the underwhelming box office performance of Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience (not to mention weak ratings for the Jonas Brothers’ new TV show on the Disney Channel) it appears that Disney may have greatly overestimated the Jonas Brothers’ appeal. Is this a reflection of the film itself, though, or merely an indication that the Jonas Brothers never had that much of a following in the first place? The answer is probably a bit of both.

Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience is a 3D concert film of the 2008 Jonas Brothers Burning Up concert tour, as well as documentary footage on the lives of the three brothers Kevin, Joe and Nick. As this is a concert movie it is obvious who the target audience is and suffice to say Jonas Brothers fans will love it while haters will loathe it. Personally, while I don’t particularly like the Jonas Brothers I also don’t particularly dislike them either and, as such, I was able to approach this film from a neutral standpoint. Overall, I found it to be below the standard of last year’s 3D Hannah Montana concert movie but on its own terms it is still technically quite well made from the perspective of it being a concert although its merits as a piece of filmmaking are little to none. Both the songs and dance routines are lively and energetic with good showmanship although it is hard to shake a strong feeling of cliché that comes from the fact that everything about the Jonas Brothers and their performance is extremely similar to countless other boy bands with little to distinguish Kevin, Joe and Nick from the rest. However, the target audience for this film won’t care a bit and will love the songs and the choreography, which is pretty well handled. Despite their being nothing aesthetically wrong with the music style of the Jonas Brothers it really wasn’t to this critic’s taste although some enjoyable guest performances by fellow teen sensations Demi Lovato and Taylor Swift were much more my cup of tea.

Both have quite beautiful singing voices and may offer something of interest for any non Jonas Brothers fans who get dragged along to this film. The thing that really distinguishes the film though is the 3D which really heightens the experience. While not all of the film is in 3D – only the concert itself and a music video are – the stuff that is in 3D is excellent, placing you right in the middle of it all, making it feel as if you are watching a live concert as opposed to just a movie. The behind the scenes sequences (some of which are clearly staged) break up the flow of the film, with segments interspersed throughout. These don’t really offer much insight into the lives of the Jonas Brothers, only giving glimpses of what they face when on tour – obsessive fans, getting up very early, hectic schedules, etc. Overall, Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience is only really likely to appeal to a small audience. If you are like me, not being that keen on the Jonas Brothers but not against them either, you may find it watchable but won’t enjoy it all that much. Haters will rate the film much lower than me while fans will rate it much higher. Clearly, enjoyment of this film is going to be very subjective.

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