Review: 'Katy Perry: The Lifetimes Tour Live in Paris' puts the pop star's visual spectacle somewhat at odds with her music

At the very least, the pop star Katy Perry knows what her fans, the KatyCats, want to see in her live shows: Big flashy spectacle, several costume changes, and a big believe-in-yourself finish centered on two of her hits, “Roar” and “Firework.”  The rest is window dressing, and there’s a lot of that in Perry’s latest concert movie, “Katy Perry: The Lifetimes Tour Live in Paris.”

The movie was filmed last November, over two shows at Accor Arena in Paris, on the tour where Perry was selling her underwhelming dance album “143” — her first album not to go gold or better since her triple-platinum breakout “One of the Boys” back in 2008. The tour’s narrative plays like a video game, with Perry’s robot avatar, KP143, going through various levels to collect energy hearts and defeat an evil A.I. called Mainframe. 

The video game cut scenes serve a practical purpose in the show, to keep fans entertained while Perry goes to her changing room below the stage and dons another thigh-baring costume. Each section is another level in Perry’s game, and the setlist is somewhat divided by parts of her career.

Yes, it all feels like Perry asked ChatGPT to create a concept that’s similar to, but legally different from, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour — and this is the result. (Perry even copies Swift’s trick of going semi-acoustic for a couple of surprise “deep cuts” midway through the setlist.)

It’s all entertaining as far as it goes, though without the vision that Perry’s contemporaries displayed in their recent concert films — like Swift in the Eras tour, Beyonce in “Revolution” or Billie Eilish’s “Hit Me Hard and Soft.” In those concerts, the songs seemed to be in harmony with the visual spectacle, where with Perry they’re working against each other.

It probably doesn’t help that when Perry does a medley of her earlier hits — including “California Gurls,” “Teenage Dream,” “Hot n Cold” and “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” — you can hear the age in the dated lyrics and her avoidance of the higher notes. She boasts to the Parisian audience during this stretch that she’s 41 years old, without taking the hint that she maybe should retire that part of her repertoire.

Still, a final act that incorporates “Daisies” — a sentimental favorite that Perry wrote when her daughter was born — along with the heart-tugging “Roar” and “Firework” has the desired effect of bringing artist and audience together in a celebration of empowerment. The KatyCats will lap it up with enthusiasm.

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‘Katy Perry: The Lifetimes Tour Live in Paris’

★★★

Opened Wednesday, September 2, in theaters. Not rated, but probably PG-13 for some profanity and suggestive dancing. Running time: 132 minutes.