Michael Movie Review

WARNING: Child abuse is mentioned

This movie was so fun to watch!  From the singing, dancing, and experience of seeing Michael’s rise of fame, this movie felt like a concert.  I was dancing in my seat almost the whole time everytime Jaafar was singing. For me, this film is a must-see.

The highlight was Jaafar Jackson (Michael Jackson’s nephew).  He was able to nail everything about the icon himself.  From his mannerisms (playing with Bubbles the chimpanzee) to his voice, he was able to perfectly capture his voice and sound to the point where you felt that he was reincarnated.  It’s a little extreme but still you have to watch the film in order to understand where I am coming from.  Also Juliano Krue Valdi did an amazing job portraying young Michael.  He had the charisma that young Michael had and the fear he had for Joseph made my heart sink for him and how he was one of the few people that actually stood up to Joseph.  I wish he didn’t go through that at a young age.  His faith and hope and when he would read Peter Pan and Neverland made the whole trauma of the abuse realistic.  It’s a small but pivotal detail that will come later in the film.  It’s heartbreaking that at a young age that he had this ideal that Joseph was the villain, but it was the truth and I’m glad the filmmakers didn’t shy away from this.

As much as I will hate Joseph for what he put his sons through, I have to give Colman Domingo credit for what he put into the role.  Every time he was on the screen it made my skin crawl.  He had this intimidating yet cynical presence that Domingo was able to bring to the character and elevate it to a whole other level.  His eyes when he was talking to Michael at a young age, he was able to intimidate, similar to the Colonel Tom Parker did to Elvis.  It was scary to see how his eyes told a whole other story where his words told something else.  The eyes and how he directed those eyes to who he was talking to.  Michael was intimidation and manipulation, while with Katherine, he showed dominance, his body language to where he was physically threatening her without even hitting her.  Domingo was able to show that power in his body language to his performance, which is something I don’t see often in live action performances and Domingo was able to elevate his performance to a whole other level that made me squirm.

Something else I love that they did is they didn’t bring up the allegations that he had.  While this is something, they were going to incorporate in the film, I think it worked that they didn’t and hold off until the next film.  Only because up until this point, we were able to see the rise of how he was able to get away from his father and see the human he was vs. what Hollywood tried to paint him as.  Had they added it, sure it would add a level of horror, but it would also take away from the legend that he was and it wouldn’t have worked and took away from the good feeling we had up to this point.  Plus, it would’ve shifted the tone and I don’t think in this case it would’ve worked in my opinion, however I know at some point we will have to see this and it will hurt when we do.  Honestly, he was innocent and whoever is on the Epstein tainted that image and it is truly sad as he brought so many people together from rival gang rivals to saving kids from those despicable island and he wanted kids to have the childhood he never had.

I appreciate that they did is they didn’t bring up the allegations that he had.  While this is something, they were going to incorporate in the film, I think it worked that they didn’t and hold off until the next film.  Only because up until this point, we were able to see the rise of how he was able to get away from his father and see the human he was vs. what Hollywood tried to paint him as.  Had they added it, sure it would add a level of horror, but it would also take away from the legend that he was and it wouldn’t have worked and took away from the good feeling we had up to this point.  Plus, it would’ve shifted the tone and I don’t think in this case it would’ve worked in my opinion, however I know at some point we will have to see this and it will hurt when we do.  Honestly, he was innocent and whoever is on the Epstein tainted that image and it is truly sad as he brought so many people together from rival gang rivals to saving kids from those despicable island and he wanted kids to have the childhood he never had.

At the end of the day, this movie is a must see for fan and non-fans of Michael Jackson because he was an influential figure to the music industry and everyone needs to see this while in theaters because I promise you will not regret it.