NEW “Never Say Never” Debut Movie Justin Bieber -Movie Review

There’ll be plenty of time for trashing hotel rooms down the road.

A Neverland Ranch seems decades away. He’ll be botching somebody’s

national anthem soon enough.

So for now, don’t fight the fever, and don’t hate on those who have it.

Justin Bieber, the first Youtube-created pop superstar, belongs to those

who discovered him long before his “team” discovered him, worked him,

promoted him and packaged him for “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never,” a 3D

concert film that serves up the boy/the myth.

But 3D or not, the film about the mop-topped Canadian — who turns 17

March 1 — doesn’t let us get very close to “the talent.” We get an hour

and forty-five minutes of movie that runs through most of his hit songs

“(Baby” “One Less Lonely Girl”) as performed on an 86 city concert tour.

We’re served snippets of home movies that chronicle his meteoric rise, a

mocking moment of hair-flipping, a few shirt-changing scenes guaranteed

to make girls squeal. And there’s not even a full minute of sound bites

with just Justin Bieber talking. That’s how you protect an image.

Miley Cyrus shares the stage with him for a song, p*****ing the

teeny-bopper baton. Bieber sings with his idols, Boys II Men. More

cynically, Jaden Smith comes on for a song, pimped into the limelight by

parents Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith.

It’s all good, clean fun, these ten year-old fans declaring that they

plan to marry him, older women wanting to baby him (his baby pictures

are a fixture on projection screens at his shows). For those without

teen-tween girls, here’s his story – laid out in interviews with his

manager, his vocal coach – mentors all, the most famous being the singer

Usher and super-producer L.A. Reid.

Bieber’s devoutly Christian mom, Pattie Malette, who had him in tiny

Stratford, Ontario when she was 18? Limited screen time, not a lot of

talking. She’s stuck her foot in it a few times, so no sense letting her

get off message. His dad, who left mom when he was 10 months old? A few

tears, even fewer words.

Choreographer-director (“Step Up 3D”) Jon Chu’s film, photographed by

Reed Smoot, who has large format (IMAX) documentaries (“Wild Oceans 3D”)

on his resume, may do little with the 3D. But the movie captures some of

Bieber’s inherent playfulness and goes to some pains to paint him as

“normal,” even when that voice coach, “Mama” Jan Smith, informs him

“This is your normal, now.” His teen boy bonafides are established by

putting him on the basketball court with childhood pals.

And the talent is obvious, even in those earliest videos, busking for

spare change outside the Avon Theater, uncertain of pitch but covering

soul and R & B tunes with conviction, confidence and p*****ion.

But will we ever see the “real” Justin Bieber, up close and personal?

“Never say never,” kids, but that won’t come until this fever subsides.

“Never Say Never” is about as revealing as a Canadian snowmobile suit.

See for Yourself “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never”

Cast: Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Usher Raymond, Boys II Men, Snoop

Dogg, Jaden Smith

Director: Jon chu

Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes

Rating: G

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