

There was a time when the world was much simpler and I went to the movie theatre (because we didn't have a VCR in my dorm room at NYU and were DVDs even invented yet?) and watched Madonna's Truth or Dare. Three times. In two days. I understand the appeal of the pop-mogul tour documentary. So when my daughter and I were invited to an advance screening of Katy Perry: Part of Me, Katy Perry's all-access, 3-D, "backstage pass" to her year long "California Dreams Tour", I knew we couldn't pass it up.
The movie did not disappoint, especially for a lover of spectacle. As a performer, I can really appreciate Perry's unstoppable drive and ambition. Her explosive performances and endless creativity are something to be admired, even if she's not your style. As a mother, I was happy to bring my daughter to a film about a woman who set her goals high and achieved them, even when the going got tough.
Part of Me takes us back to Perry's early years as the daughter of Evangelical Preachers, through the beginnings of her self-admitted "rebel phase", to LA for the rocky start of her eventually successful singing career. And successful is putting it mildly. Katy Perry is in fact the first woman in music history to produce five Number One singles off a single album. She did it with her hit album "Teenage Dream". The only other artist to achieve this has been Michael Jackson.