March 11, 2009

Jonas Brothers 3D film ‘reassuringly wholesome and family-friendly’

By John Mulderig

NEW YORK (CNS)—For three well-behaved young men who sometimes perform in jacket and tie, the real-life siblings who make up the popular boy band the Jonas Brothers—21-year-old Kevin, 19-year-old Joe and 16-year-old Nick—certainly create a lot of mayhem, as the screaming, weeping and hyperventilating tween girl fans that swarm the screen in “Jonas Brothers: The 3-D Concert Experience” (Disney) vividly demonstrate.

Like fellow Disney-bred teen singer Miley Cyrus, and like a long succession of male heartthrobs dating back at least to the days of Frank Sinatra and his bobby-sox-wearing devotees of the 1940s, the brothers have only to set foot on stage or make a public appearance or, gasp, take off a shirt—as Joe does in his dressing room—to set off high-decibel pandemonium.

So, as with last year’s “Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert,” parents and guardians may be tempted to insert earplugs before the opening credits.

Director Bruce Hendricks’ energetic bubblegum-rock documentary captures performances from the group’s 2008 “Burnin’ Up” tour, interspersed with some behind-the-scenes footage of their life on the road and a lavish music video set in New York’s Central Park. Teen actress and vocalist Demi Lovato and 19-year-old country singer-songwriter Taylor Swift—who first topped the genre’s charts when she was 17—appear for duets, and brief backing comes from security man-turned-rapper Big Rob Feggans.

Though current 3-D technology enhances the sense of being in the midst of the live audience, it’s used in mostly predictable ways, with tossed drumsticks, for instance, flying off the screen. And at the conclusion of the Gotham-themed video, images of the city’s parasitic pigeons zoom startlingly into viewers’ faces.

Adults accompanying members of the targeted demographic will find this upbeat outing, like the trio it profiles, reassuringly wholesome and family-friendly.

Committed Christians from a faith-based background—their father served as a Protestant minister—the brothers wear “promise” or “purity” rings as symbols of their commitment to premarital chastity, as Barbara Walters announced with wonderment in a recent interview.

Though lyrics urging 11-year-olds not to give up on love may strike cynics as slightly premature, they’re delivered pleasantly enough, with Nick and Joe alternating lead vocals. And all three give themselves over to the work at hand in a hard-driving routine that includes heart and soul, and some impressive gymnastic maneuvers.

Joe cultivates a knock-kneed strut reminiscent of Mick Jagger. But there all similarities with the high-flying Rolling Stone of the 1960s presumably cease.

The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-I—general patronage. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is G—general audiences. All ages admitted.

John Mulderig is on the staff of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. More reviews are available online at usccb.org/movies.