Review: LORD OF THE DANCE 3D - Poor Substitute To Seeing The Show Live

By Matt Conn / July 1, 2011

rating: 2

Lord of the Dance has been seen by over sixty million people in sixty different countries with over a billion dollars in ticket sales and has played to the likes of George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin, now comes to the big screen in eye popping 3D. The story, so much as there is one, involves a battle (consisting mainly of a series of dance-offs) between a dark lord and the Lord of the Dance (Michael Flatley, the creator, producer and director of the original stage show) aided by a Puck-like sprite. That is really about it narrative depth is not something anyone seems particularly concerned with €“ the story is wrapped up about sixty minutes in yet the dancing unfortunately continues for another half an hour at least. There are things to be admired about Lord of the Dance 3D. The choreography is fairly spectacular with sometimes upwards of forty dancers on stage at once. They are clearly an extremely talented troupe and there is no doubting the universal popularity of the stage show. Michael Flatley was born for the stage and the Dublin audience lap up every blinding flash of teeth that match his equally dazzling jackets. Yet the question which kept coming to my mind as I watched it was... why am I watching this in the cinema? Even I, who can barely sit through a musical let alone a dance extravaganza, could appreciate the excitement and energy of a live performance that the audience was obviously loving; it just looked like a whole lot more fun to be there. It is a bit like watching a concert and then listening to the live album €“ the whole collective experience, the excitement, the intimacy of being at the gig is gone and all that is left is the songs slightly tinnier than there studio equivalent, and the crowd cheering over the intros - it is just not the same. Even if you are Irish dance fan and for some reason you have managed to miss one of the zillion performances of the show round the world the whole experience is let down by the 3D. As always with 3D films I found myself looking over the top of the glasses to see just how bright the screen actually should be. It mattered even more here because the colours and razzmatazz are so much a part of the show. More problematic still is the awful motion blur; some of the dancing is truly spectacular but when it reaches the faster, more elaborate sequences, of which they are many, the format just does not do them justice. The rush of colours combined with almost every sequence ending in frantic crescendo as music and tapping reach fever pitch meant that by the end I was practically begging for mercy. I felt like Alex from A Clockwork Orange forced to watch riverdancing until my head exploded. If you are a fan of Irish dance and you can get past the annoying 3D you might find something to like in Lord of the Dance 3D although I am sure that if you have seen the original show this is a poor substitute in comparison. Lord of the Dance 3D is showing in U.K. theatres from March 13th and in the U.S. on March 17th.