This review is not coming from someone who is giving this film(if you call it a film as such) a 1 because I haven't seen it and I hate Justin Bieber. This review is coming from someone who did see the film, aiming to give an honest judgement and to keep open-minded. I love music and I love film, but Justin Bieber: Never Say Never came across to me as pointless and I just didn't enjoy the experience.
I did not like how Never Say Never was shot. The photography was shoddy and sometimes went at odd angles, and the lighting got so much I finished the film with a very bad headache, which still hasn't gone away. I do agree about the 3D, I not only found it unnecessary I also found it distracting. It also doesn't help that the 3D wasn't- like the annoying narration- actually that good in the first place, in fact it was really quite bad.
The music and Justin Bieber are also major problems. Not Justin Bieber as a person mind you, when I saw him performing on television at Christmas he seemed quite down-to-earth, hard-working, honest and not too full of himself. I just hate his music and I have never liked his singing either. His singing is for me rather forced and flat, and his music especially Baby has me switching off the radio quicker than you can say "Santa Claus is Comin' To Town". As for the music with exception of the lyrically powerful Born to be Somebody the songs suffer from dull melodic writing and uninspired lyrics that made me think hang on I've heard this before.
I'm sorry to say, Bieber didn't impress me very much either. As I've said, I have never liked his singing or music. However, he does have a commanding presence on stage. But... I don't think here he is in particularly good voice, the singing is still flat and forced for my liking and his acting did nothing for me. I also hated the audience. During the concert scenes, the screaming often got so loud that it was almost impossible to hear the vocals or lyrics, and this audience if this was humanly possible is more annoying than any of the audiences for those trashy talk shows(ie.Jerry Springer, Maury). Granted, people love that and do it for the atmosphere, what I'm saying is that it isn't for me. Also as part of my autism, I do have problems with sudden loud noises so while I hated the audience when it came to seeing the film, being in the audience I think would have upset me more.
The story's structure and message didn't do much either. I didn't mind that the story was part biopic, part concert feature, but the biopic stuff does come across as superficial and contrived and I think some of it slows the film down quite considerably. The message is a follow your dreams message, I have no problem with the message itself, it's just that it is not a very fresh one and feels very overly-didactic in the way it is put across in this film. The dialogue at best is really bad, some of it is cheesy and some of it is cloying, while the direction is wretched. The acting is subpar, Bieber's acting is worse than his singing and Jaden Smith while okay has a hardly credible persona. In fact, the sole bright spot in the cast is actually Miley Cyrus, which surprised me as I cannot stand her.
In conclusion, this film comes across as pointless and I just didn't enjoy it. Bieber fans will like it, otherwise it isn't really worth it. 1/10 Bethany Cox
