Moonwalker

Actually this movie has silly moments, both in the claymation part and in the Joe Pesci and children part, and it's much worse than other MJ movies like "The Wiz", "Captain Eo" and "Ghosts". But as a die hard Michael Jackson fan since almost eleven years, (Yeah, that's half my life, you guys!), I can't complain too much about it. Just seeing this lovely guy and hearing his wonderful music is a trip to Heaven for me. But as a movie, it's not good at all, and I'm afraid, that it would get a much lower grade for me, if my darling Mike hadn't been the one starring in it. But since no one but Mike IS the moonwalker, it has to get a 7 out of 10 from me.

Besides from the seeing the new "This Is It" and saying Im a huge Michael Jackson fan, I thought I would prove it and see a movie he actually did back in his time. "Moonwalker" breaks all rules, laws, and scripts in the film making history. It's completed in a phenomenal fashion all leading up to the highlight of the film. A triumph comic-book texture short entitled "Smooth Criminal" which Ill discuss later.

Besides being subject to jokes and media, we need to remember that back in the 80s everyone was into Michael Jackson. So having a movie on him titled by his dance that only a handful knew, Moonwalker. The film is what you would call, a montage of Jackson clips, so Ill have to do separate paragraphs to sort these out so I don't do block writing entirely. Though I may combine some since some are very short.

The movie opens with Michael Jackson singing "Main In the Mirror" at a live concert. He is covered in sweat and singing his heart out just to please his fans. Then it cuts to a kaleidoscopic view of MJ's career leading up till 1988. We see early clips of The Jacksons 5. From "ABC" to "Beat It", it's all there.

Then we get a short clip of "Bad", entitled "Badder". The kids are amazingly talented, doing back flips, front flips, everything while lip syncing key point of the MJ song. It was sort of unnecessary having this on the tape seeing as I didn't want to see kids sing one of my favorite songs. Sure they were lip syncing, but I would like to see my one of my favorite songs sung by the artist. Not pre "Kidz Bop" it up.

Followed by, my favorite of the film, "Speed Demon" which is MJ being bombarded by his fans who are claymation figures. The scene, is overall colorful and very upbeat. MJ acts natural, as if he has done this before (which he probably has). Overall, this is the best thing on the tape, so far.

"Leave Me Alone" is a heartfelt crowdpleaser, showing MJ dancing in front of a crowd, announcing to everyone who can hear him to, well, leave him alone. It's a catchy tune that is definitely and underrated portion of the film.

The next clip, is the main course, and the point of this whole film extravaganza. It is Michael Jackson, playing a superhero trying to stop Mr. Big (Joe Pesci) from drug-dealing crime boss with an army of henchmen. Michael Jackson, at the same time, is protecting Katie, Zeke, and Sean three homeless kids who spy on MJ. After escaping Mr. Big's clutches, MJ goes into the club and begins dancing to "Smooth Criminal" while defeating Big's henchman. Thats all you can say without giving anything away. It is a real standout from the movie and the dance choreography is stunning. Michael is probably the at his most lively stage yet, and not putting himself or dancers into any grueling treatment.

Then the last two segments are minor, though serve a purpose. "Come Together" isn't the greatest thing to come out of the tape. It is a little long, but still not awful. "Come Together" is a song originally written and sung by The Beatles being sung by Jackson here. In my opinion it should have stayed sung by The Beatles.

"The Moon is Walking" and the music video of "Smooth Criminal" closes this heartfelt film. My only complaint is that this movie is unsure of what it wants to be. First, it wants to be a documentary, then it wants to be a compilation of music videos and music clips. It jumps around and at points is confused. But for the most part, "Moonwalker" is a sensational movie that is sure too please MJ's fans.

Some people need to lighten up and not take the film so seriously. Its a fantasy after all. Michaels music is fantastic and it is proven in this film, its well before its time. Moonwalker is one of the most entertaining ones I have ever seen and I would recommend it to anyone looking to watch a film full of light-hearted fun.

Please note: the title 'Moonwalker' refers to his unique dance, you know, the moonwalk... not actually walking on the moon!

I was quite surprised to read some of the comments on this work, honestly. Some people were looking for a plot??? OK, when this video came out over a decade ago, I watched it for what it was: a collection of music videos. It's not a movie. It doesn't have a plot, nor a central storyline. It's a rather artistic anthology of mostly long-form videos, all of them rather smartly or creatively done. Michael Jackson may be considered a freak these days, but, after all, this was the man who gave us Thriller (considered by many to be the greatest music video of all time) and set trends with Billie Jean and Beat It. With Moonwalker, he and the filmmakers and artists who collaborated with him once again took his music and dance moves to create some vividly entertaining stuff, incorporating claymation, special effects, live performance footage, and even self-parody (the "Badder" sequence). And for those wondering what Joe Pesci was doing there, this video came out just a tad before he became a household name, and was one of his most memorable appearances on film. And, IMHO, I think the Smooth Criminal sequence (the choreographed section) beats anything else Michael Jackson did up to that point!

It may seem hard to believe now, but back in the 1980s Michael Jackson didn't need to refer to himself as the King of Pop; we all KNEW he was, in part because his lifestyle and pecadillos hadn't yet started to overwhelm his music (back when his music was worth the effort of overwhelming). One of the offshoots of his amazing success was "Moonwalker," a movie basically designed to celebrate the awesomeness that is - or was - Michael Jackson, which was a massive cinematic Christmas gift for his fans in 1988 just about everywhere, except at home; Jackson's then-manager and one of the movie's executive producers Frank DiLeo demanded a massive share of the box office from its potential US distributor, and when they said no "Moonwalker" was released directly to video in the US.

The trouble is, viewed as a movie this decision isn't hard to understand - "Moonwalker" isn't so much a movie as a collection of music videos, all varying in quality. The bits dealing with Michael's younger years are truly fun, and so are some of the special effects throughout (like Will Vinton's work in "Speed Demon"), but the centrepiece of the short film "Smooth Criminal" (pint-sized villain Joe Pesci, as "Lideo" [get it?], wants to get all the children in the world hooked on drugs, and guess who has to stop him? Clue: His name appears 45 times in the credits) doesn't work, in part because the story stops dead to allow for the "Smooth Criminal" video to be shown in its entirety.

The movie's unending and unquestioning adoration of Michael Jackson gets its fullest flower there, although the video for "Leave Me Alone" (in which he basically exploits his life in song while at the same time telling us to go away, something he would later take even further in "Stop Questioning Me" and "Black or White," which set new standards for self-serving BS topped only by Geri Halliwell and Jennifer Lopez) comes close. Even at the time it seemed a bit much, and viewed today... well, remember how ill-timed the joke in "Addams Family Values" about a kid screaming at a poster of Michael Jackson was? The entire movie nowadays has that same feel magnified; plus it feels like a relic from another age.

The shame of it all now is that it reminds you that MJ really was a wizard once upon a time, but it's all changed now.