Energetic 'Glee: The 3D Concert Movie'

The key element missing from "Glee: The 3D Concert Movie" is exactly what it sorely needs: Jane Lynch.

The musical numbers are expertly, if soullessly, produced; the audience energy provides a certain euphoria. But the movie portrays the Fox TV show from which it sprang as if it were a combination civil rights movement, Americans with Disabilities Act, Title IX and gay pride parade. What it needs is Coach Sue Sylvester dropping by to say, "This sucks." One time. Just to bring things back to earth.

Instead, the film establishes the TV show's prodigiously talented cast as the best cover band around (or the most extravagantly produced), even if they start off with what ought to have been the encore (Journey's "Don't Stop Believing") and make their way through a collection of other people's greatest hits. Most of those songs -- performed at the recent Izod Center gig in East Rutherford, N.J. -- seem skewed to the parents of the show's teenage target audience.

But the message of "Glee: The 3D Concert Movie" is that gay is good, fat is fine, diverse is delightful and all ages are welcome. To make this point, the musical numbers are interspersed with stories of three fans, whose lives have apparently been changed by the show -- a heavyset girl with Asperger's syndrome; a gay boy; a dwarf cheerleader. This, together with the many "random" interviews done with fans, constantly reinforces the idea that without "Glee" all those "losers" out there are leading lives of quiet misery.

Self-service aside, the movie works when people are singing, and the best person singing is Lea Michele (her Barbra Streisand-channeling "Don't Rain on My Parade" is sweet). What "Glee T3DCM" might have used is less Gwyneth Paltrow and more pacing -- when every song is an anthem, there can be no momentum, no crescendo, no payoff. You expect that from "American Idol." You expect better from "Glee."

Back Story: New dimension gives cast glee

For many of the "Glee" cast, filming the concert in 3-D was an exciting new experience -- a tangible documentation of the thrill of their second concert tour.

"I would never have imagined if you told me a year ago that we were going to be doing a three-dimensional concert film," says Cory Monteith, who plays Finn, a high-school football jock with a passion for singing and dancing.

It took a little adjustment to get comfortable with the 3-D cameras for some of the cast.

"They only got in my way once," says Kevin McHale, who plays the wheelchair-bound Artie. "The whole thing was that I couldn't get out of my chair until I was hidden behind the band. When we started the tour we didn't want to break that, and the 3-D camera was in the way, in the back, and I kind of got a little angry because I had to leave the chair out in the middle and so everyone could see me just get up."

The cast, set to return to start filming the third season, shrugs off rumors that for some, it will be their last year.

"We're just focused on this season," says Naya Rivera, who plays Santana. "We're really excited to get back to work."

-- Entertainment News Wire