Guest Post: Never Say Never Review

From time to time I like to have guest posts here on The Chronicles of Nat because let’s face it, I don’t always have interesting things to write about. So, last Friday when Jackie called and told me she was taking Ashlyn to see “Never Say Never” and would I like for her to write a guest review, I said, “Heck yeah!” One, because I knew it would be funny especially since the lasses love The Beiber and two because folks come here for all the best information when it comes to the latest movies and such, right? Well, maybe not, but I knew this would be a post that we would all find interesting. And so, without further ado, I’ll hand it over to Jackie and her guest review.

So I have had Justin Bieber crammed down my throat for quite sometime now. My 7-yearr old daughter, Ashlyn, has Bieber Fever big time. Her pink room is covered with Justin Bieber posters and she knows every single one of his songs by heart. There are days when I hear the volume of her little boom box getting loud and the distinct noise of her jumping on the bed and singing at the top of her lungs and I think, “Lord I can’t take much more”. Then I take a little trip down memory lane and realize I did the exact same thing when I was young except my walls were covered in New Kids On The Block (NKOTB) posters and my boom box was blasting “The Right Stuff” straight from a cassette tape. So the cool young chic mommy in me decided to take Ashlyn and her very best friend Maddie to see The Bieb in “Never Say Never” this weekend. To be honest I went with an open mind because when you see your child get soooooo very excited about something it’s hard not to join in. With that said I am a very cynical person and the way they manufacture pop stars now a days like they’re just pulling them off an assembly line and it’s disturbing. Needless to say, my music tastes have changed by leaps and bounds since the days of NKOTB.

So the girls and I got our popcorn and sodas and got settled in for 1hr and 45 minutes of Bieber mania. I am sure most of you reading this probably have NO desire to see this movie so I will try and make the review as short as possible. The movie starts out with his mother being interviewed. A little fact I didn’t know is that his mother was a teenager when she had Justin and with the help of her parents she raised him all on her own. They don’t really touch on the father subject very much; although he was in the first part of the movie at one of Justin’s concerts and is seen crying backstage, I am guessing because he realized how talented of a kid he had and how much he has missed out on. The movie is a countdown to Madison Square Garden or MSG as they refer to it. Madison Square Garden is the venue of all venues so this was a huge deal that he was able to sell it out. Basically the whole movie consists of a large montage of childhood videos, interviews with Scooter Braun the man who discovered Justin on YouTube and a slew of other famous people who have helped this kid build a massive career. I was convinced that this was going to be the same old story. Some young kid with a little bit of talent but the right look gets picked out of a crowd and bam he’s famous! I was WRONG! This kid taught himself how to play the piano, drums, guitar and the trumpet. His mom was very involved with the music side of the church they went to so Justin grew up around musicians. There is video of very young Justin (maybe 3) playing a killer drum beat on a little stand up drum. Not only does he sing great, can play pretty much any instrument you place in front of him and dance and he has a head of hair that is a being all unto itself (kind of like The Donald – note from Nat)! They do rip on him about his hair which I thought was hilarious because the Beiber swoosh is nerve racking! The unsung heroes of his story though are his mother and grandparents. These people keep the ground beneath his feet at all times. At one point he goes to visit his grandparents while on tour in Canada and a bunch of his buddies come over to hang out and his grandmother won’t let him leave until he cleans his room. The other thing I found really profound about him is that he is extremely affectionate with everyone and he prays a lot. Even when he is grabbing a slice with friends they all bow their heads to pray before they eat. This is not something you see on a day to day basis especially in the industry that he is in. With that said there was absolutely nothing mentioned about his education while on tour or while he was recording his album. I kept waiting for them to introduce a tutor or explain that maybe in Canada (how about I had no idea The Beib was from Canada – note from Nat) you only have to finish grade 8 (which I know isn’t the case) but they never mentioned him continuing his education after he hit it big. That was a huge issue for me and I am hoping it all ended up on the cutting room floor because they didn’t have room. Regardless, this wasn’t a horrible movie. Will I watch it again? Probably not. Do I feel better that my daughter is obsessed with someone who at this point seems to have some moral fiber? Absolutely. If you want to see it, wait until it comes out of DVD. My opinion it was just a really expensive behind the music episode. (I love Behind The Music, maybe I should see this – note from Nat).