Katy Perry documentary tells only part of her story

The new 3-D concert movie and documentary “Katy Perry: Part of Me” is good, but could have been great, given the material the filmmakers had to work with.
Perry is one of the most popular musical performers today and she’s been breaking records.
She recently became the first woman to score five No. 1 singles off one album, a feat accomplished before only by Michael Jackson. She also is the first artist in the Billboard Hot 100’s more than five-decade history to spend 52 consecutive weeks – an entire year – in the top 10.
“Part of Me” offers some interesting behind the scenes glimpses at Perry’s life and her drive to stardom. For instance, before she made it big, high-profile producers The Matrix tried to turn her into “the next Avil Lavigne,” which she wisely rejected.
I enjoyed the stagecraft involved in putting on her year-long world tour and the scenes of Perry interacting with her inner circle and VIP fans.
The most iconic shot in the movie is Perry making her concert entrance from a lift beneath the stage and holding her microphone up like a torch. It’s repeated several times to great effect, showing the grind of the tour and her performing through personal troubles.
The 3-D concert scenes also are very well done and feature Perry performing some of her biggest hits, including “Hot n Cold” and “California Gurls.”
I do wish the film had been produced independently so as to provide a more journalistic perspective on Perry. But with Perry as a producer, you know the movie is only going to show what she wants to show. Chicago Tribune film critic Michael Phillips calls it a “chipper, no-warts-and-all tour chronicle.”
Her brief marriage to actor-comedian Russell Brand is part of the movie, but the audience only gets one side of that story. So the breakup rightly or not is portrayed as his fault.
If you like Perry and her music, chances are you will like “Katy Perry: Part of Me”. If not, probably not. I do and I did.