They were the band every kid loved, every little girl had posters of on her wall and every kid — and their parents — knew their songs by heart. From 2005 to 2013, the Jonas Brothers ruled the pop music scene. After dropping a surprise single in February, the Jonas Brothers released an epic comeback album, Happiness Begins.
To mark their comeback, reunite in the most mature way possible and give their fans a little insight as to what happened back then and what is happening now, the Jonas Brothers released a documentary on Amazon Prime, Chasing Happiness.
The documentary is so honest — so honest, in fact, that there are some moments of pure shock at certain things that have happened in the course of the brothers’ careers. What is truly incredible is the documentarian who created the film, John Taylor (if you’re a fan of “Lovebug” you know who this is), is able to capture brutally honest moments in a way without overdramatizing them. Taylor gives the brothers an outlet to be honest and tell their individual truths about the events that led to their split and, later on, their reunion.
Taylor incorporates many home videos that perfectly accent the narrative while also using video of interviews with Kevin, Joe and Nick speaking. Taylor keeps the narration between the three brothers each giving their personal testimony about different events and some of the same events. The scenes of the three brothers drinking and playing a game of tough questions is great because it provides tons of insight, not only for bands but for the brothers, too.
The Jonas Brothers formed after the three boys wrote a song and decided they could be something great. After being dropped from record labels, they were officially picked up by Disney, and their career skyrocketed after the release of their cover of Busted’s “Year 3000.” With the release of the Disney movie, Camp Rock, they embraced their stardom, interacted with fans, Kevin met his future wife Danielle and the group was seemingly perfect.
Nick was always the most invested with music out of the group, so when he started to pursue solo options, the band started to crack. However, that was pretty clear to fans already. Perhaps the most shocking reveal in the documentary is when Kevin tells the story of when Nick and Joe performed a Jonas Brothers concert without him because they felt like he was holding them back. Kevin had a family, and Joe and Nick didn’t understand the priority that took over the band.
What the documentary really sets out to do is highlight their personal growth after the band broke up. Nick pursued his own music, Joe met and formed DNCE and Kevin focused on his family. The three brothers were great together for a while but absolutely needed the personal growth to be able to patch up their relationship later in life.
The documentary is called Chasing Happiness not only because the brothers began by chasing happiness through the band and then each brother was chasing their own personal happiness, but it’s also entitled this because they’re coming together to chase happiness through reconciliation. The documentary perfectly exemplifies the lessons of personal growth and figuring out how to work together with your best friends and brothers to grow as well.
Overall, the documentary is an adorable, honest and inspirational film about not only the band audiences know and love but three brothers who grew up together and simply want to share their love of music with the world. Chasing Happiness is a story of reconciliation, finding a balance in life and that familial love that will never go away.
