Katy Perry The Movie: Part of Me – 499/-

Directed By: Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz

Katy Perry has officially emerged as one of music industry's brightest pop icons, celebrated as much for her outsized behavior and outrageous fashion sense as the music itself. This part-biopic, part-concert film tells the story of the singer – songwriter career as gospel singer Katheryn Hudson until the present day as pop singer and global superstar Katy Perry, bearing testimony from her childhood, and also chronicling her year-long California Dreams World Tour in 2011 with an abundance of personal interviews, her Perry interaction with fans, and concert footage from California and around the globe. She also talks at length about the Teenage Dream era. There's also plenty of footage with Perry's costumers, makeup artists, various assistants and friends. It may come as a surprise to her fans, but we also get to see the emotional side of Perry with her showdown before concerts, her crying and her breakdown in sustaining a long-distance marriage, and later her divorce from English comedian Russell Brand.

Very striking is Perry’s days spent while growing up in a Christian household as the daughter of two pastors who made sure that ‘popular’ (pop) music was not played at home or that she was not exposed to such music. But Katy had her own way. The journey to stardom as shown in the film is engrossing, with bold views from her father and mother. There are also views from her older sister and younger brother. While all this is really well brought out, we cannot understand why no mention and information is focused on why Perry changed her name.

Perry also talks about Alanis Morissette her greatest influence who was responsible for changing her life. Fans are treated to full and part concert footage in songs like ‘Firework’, ‘California Gurls’, ‘Part of Me’, ‘Last Friday Night’ and ‘Peacock’. Don’t miss the special features on the DVD.

Katy Perry is living proof that if you just be yourself, you can be anything. A DVD every fan of her’s must have.

- Reviewed by Verus Ferreira