Katy Perry: Part of Me Reviews

We're left with zero sense of what she's really like as a granddaughter, sister, boss, or friend.

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Although there are moments when the filmmakers' fingerprints are nearly visible on the manipulated putty of an audience, the scenes aren't enough to break the fruit-flavored spell.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4

"Part of Me" is more electronic press kit than fly-on-the-wall documentary.

Full Review | Original Score: C

Just like it says, "Part of Me" is one aspect of Perry, but her fans may leave the movie wanting more.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4

What is worth seeing - and shelling out the 3-D premium for - is Perry's eye-popping showmanship.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4

I gained respect for Perry, her work ethic and personal rediscovery.

Full Review | Original Score: B

I'm willing to believe Perry is everything "Part of Me" says she is: kind, smart, talented, hardworking, deserving of success. I just wish the movie trusted me to decide for myself.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4

Part of Me works hard to prove it's more than a glorified infomercial, and one reason it is more is that Perry has a startling story to tell.

Full Review | Original Score: A-

Surely there are more interesting subjects, but Perry manages to pull it off here, coming off completely likable and real, never insufferable and fake.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4

[It] goes a bit beyond the usual music documentaries, which rarely document anything beyond how beloved their stars are.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4

Ever the professional, the pop star has surrounded herself with people who know how to make a tour work - but none of them seem well-equipped to give a heartbroken 27-year-old girl a much needed hug.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4

I'm not sure what I was expecting from "Katy Perry: Part of Me," but I know it wasn't this: a pleasant surprise.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5

You realize the main drama of the movie - and Perry's career - is not that she has any special artistic talent, but rather the drive to take on an insane workload and see it through to the bitter end.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4

Any self-produced documentary about oneself is bound to be a propaganda film, but "Katy Perry: Part of Me" is a good one, and a persuasive one.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4

It's difficult to assess the authenticity of Perry's big-screen portrait, shaped by handlers, friends, family and gushing Katy Kats. But her zeal, geeky enthusiasm and generous spirit feel genuine.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4

As one record executive put it, for too long the industry tried to make Katy Perry into something or someone else. The secret, which "Part of Me" captures quite nicely, was to just let her be.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5

There's nothing new or radical in those ideals - learning to accept yourself, not taking life too seriously - but they are messages that resonate with her young fans, female and male, and that's not at all a bad thing.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4

"Part of Me" succeeds because it's not afraid to let its big star be vulnerable.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4

"Part of Me" will never be mistaken for "The Red Shoes" (though Ms. Perry has some of those, as well as every other color), but her negotiation of the painfully competing demands of stardom and marriage is undeniably poignant.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5

As artificial as much of the apparatus surrounding Perry may be, none of it works without her charisma at the center. That comes through in "Part of Me," as does her intense drive to succeed after early failures.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4

The trudging devotion to formula would be more forgivable if Part of Me did a better job at capturing what's ostensibly the point of the documentary: Katy Perry's music.

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You never get the sense that the camera was ever allowed to see anything that Perry didn't want it to see.

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You may go for the story, but the performances and quirks leave you with an experience.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5

The 3-D performance footage is impressively lavish, though the film's unending idolization of the amiable singer will quickly exhaust all but the most devoted fans.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5

Perry may be the world's most high-profile tease, but she sure knows how to show us a good time.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5

What is there of interest for non-Katy-Perry fans? Not a whole lot... Still, I was hardly bored.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5

I find Perry likable in her camera-friendliness.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4

A mix of interviews, reality-TV style behind-the-scenes footage and 3D concert scenes, the movie is attractively, if conventionally, assembled.

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