Britney Spears: Live from Las Vegas (2001)

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

This concert was the best I have ever seen, she truly dazzles the Las Vegas audience and the rest of the world with 90minutes of chart topping hits like Oops!...I Did It Again to Overprotected to the raunchy I'm A Slave 4 U. The opening is unmissable with an astonishing performance of Oops!...I Did It Again and the finale is just as good with a re-mix of Baby One More Time and Britney looks stunning while performing Lucky in the united states coat. This concert is truly unmissable. worth buying the DVD!!! List of tracks used from album Baby...One More Time: Baby...One More Time (Re-mix), (You Drive Me) Crazy, Born To Make You Happy, Sometimes. from album Oops!...I Did It Again: Oops!...I Did It Again, Lucky, Stronger, Don't Let Me Be The Last To Know. from album Britney: Overprotected, I'm A Slave 4 U, Boys, I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman, I Love Rock 'N' Roll, What It's Like To Be Me, Lonely, Anticipating.Never before has Britney performed so well and with so much energy. Britney gives it her all in this concert from bungee jumping to playing a jewellery box ballerina, Britney is a one-woman explosion of talent. Also included on the DVD are video's for I'm A Slave 4 U, Overprotected, and I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman plus the US trailer for Crossroads.

This concert shows Britney at her best on her "Dream Within a Dream Tour" in Vegas. From the first explosion to the last bungee-stunt, this show is THE spectacle to see. Britney has endless energy throughout every song, infusing the music with her awesome dance moves. Not only were her backup dancers amazing, she was right with them for every move. The lights, the costumes, and the props all add to the visual element to the show, which has a theme of different dreams that are common in people (being chased, being trapped, falling are examples). She has songs for the kids (such as Lucky, Sometimes, and Anticipating) while she also throws in her developing "adult" independence (Overprotected, I'm a Slave 4 U, Boys). Satellites were set up at different military bases around the country, so that the audience and the viewers at home could all show support for those in the service, as this show was broadcast just a short time after the tragic attack on the Twin Towers in 2001. The picture quality is crisp with excellent wide angles and close-ups, and the 5.1 Dolby Digital track is full with bass and a hint of being in the MGM Grand Arena. Though Britney's actual live vocals are rare in this show, you may find yourself not noticing it eventually, as Britney herself is the one-woman-show; with the Vegas spectacle behind her, that is.

I'm sorry to admit that I watched this piece of crap a few weeks back when I was forced to baby sit three of my cousins who had control of the television that night. The horror show began right from the start with an introduction that made no sense. It's like I witnessed a murder from a long distance away. I really can't explain what the hell the introduction was? A lot of pretty colors and bad sound. Something about a girl ding something? It made no sense. Then to make it even worse, Britney makes an entrance that puts Michael Jackson's entrance to shame. And I'm not saying I like Michael Jackson.The screaming from the arena full of teenie boppers never ended. In my opinion, the screaming helped Britney's singing...or should I say "lip singing." How the hell could you not notice that she was lip singing. She missed her que several times and then spoke live after she sang. Either, the sound department did a terrible job with the microphone, or the sad fact was, Britney was not live in Las Vegas at all. Her CD playing her vocals behind the silver curtain with the great and powerful Oz was live instead. All in all, if you are a 12 year-old girl with nothing better to do on a Wednesday night, this is worth watching.

As with Paula Abdul back in the day (the day in question being the late 1980s), I enjoy Britney Spears both for her entertainer aspects and for her cute face, stunning abs, hypnotic legs and buns etc - as attractive as someone like Samantha Mumba is, I would sooner chew off my feet than listen to her output, something I can't say for little Miss Spears. (Which means yes, I'll probably like "Crossroads.") I'm even staying on her side after her PR mishap over here - it's not like she's killed anybody...Having enjoyed her other TV specials (including Sky's broadcast of one of her London concerts - "Oops! Sky One did it again!" as the girl said in one of the show's promos), it was a given that HBO's "Britney Spears: Live In Las Vegas" would be a must. And the show does deliver for her fans; visually it's enthralling, with the choreography, the set design, the effects (like "Lonely" featuring Britney in action with a closed-circuit TV twin) and Miss Spears' various outfits keeping the attention - "It's getting hot in here," she says prior to removing several clothes at the start of "I'm A Slave 4 U" - and the songs themselves, though odd in some cases (what possessed her to do "I Love Rock'N'Roll"? Ah well, still beats Robbie Williams and Nicole Kidman doing "Something Stupid"), are proficient bubblegum pop at worst - even "Boys," her current single at the time of writing, is still preferable to most songs that get to #1 in Britain - and almost art at best.Britney herself is a delight as always; never the world's greatest singer but she does do her best to give value for money, and on the ballads she can make you go "Aaahhhh" with the best of them. Although reducing "Born To Make You Happy" (my favourite of her songs) to part of a childhood medley doesn't quite work - and the framing device with Jon Voight is just embarrassing - the biggest fault with this show is dependant on where you see it. Your humble writer saw it on British TV's Channel 5 in a 75-minute slot (with commercial breaks); the show has an official running time of 90 minutes on video and HBO, meaning that the members of the Britney Brigade who saw it on TV here missed at least 20 minute - see reviews on Amazon.com for an idea of what's missing. The UK TV version also has an additional credit tacked on after the HBO one, calling it "A Carlton Production for Channel 5." At least the culprits admit responsibility (Carlton has a well-deserved reputation in this country for poor quality programming).If it had been the full version, I would have rated it the full 10. (And had Britney allowed the cameras to watch her change between acts a la Janet Jackson's Hawaiian concert, I'd have given it 11.) But even in a cut version this is a gem. Like the one the old lady threw in the water at the end? "Like that."