Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall

I've watched this about ten time, now. The Jackson Five was big when I was in high school and I loved the songs they did in the very early 70s. I love how this addresses how mature he was, as a child, and how he was so eager to learn and instinctively knew things that it took most adult artists years to learn. He was amazing, and in interviews, he always seemed so nice, and to enjoy what he was doing, immensely.

I love the fact that this documentary ends before what I think of as the artificial Michael Jackson started to come out. That part is so unspeakably sad that I can't stand to watch anything about it. I don't really think saying that is a spoiler, since the title says that it only goes through "Off the Wall".

This documentary on the impressive, to say the least, Michael Jackson...Is GOLD. Can't help but think of the time and skill at which Spike Lee puts into this needed to be told Documentary on the life of Michael Jackson leading up to his release of OFF THE WALL. The old footage. As clear as it can be. Stunning. The editing is incredible. The interviews from the people who were there, in the studio. To the people who were influenced in and around the time of Michael, and the Jackson 5. I didn't want it to end. And yet, I'm reminded of just how extraordinary of a talent Michael was. And the extraordinary sad events on how we lost him.

First there was the BAD documentary, then there's the OFF THE WALL documentary. I hope Spike is saving the best for last with THRILLER Documentary. But after watching JOURNEY from Mowtown to Off the Wall. That might be a hard order to fill. Please Spike do it.

Two talents...Spike Lee making a documentary about Jackson. Unbelievable. Thanks Spike Lee, and Thanks Michael...for everything.

I LOVED this documentary. The only con for me was i feel like they didn't talk about the Motown days enough, i wish they spent another 30 mins talking about it and showing more footage from the early 70s. I loved this documentary though and the clips they used were in great quality! I wish John Legend wasn't in it though, i cant stand him.

Michael Jackson was a rare thing, a child star who actually made it as an adult. He was also a complicated icon of black America, an individual whose sanity was sometimes questioned, and a businessman, very definitely promoting a product. Spike Lee's documentary focuses mainly on the first of these, charting his rise to fame. It's definietly an interesting story, but the overall tone is hagiographic, and the contrast between the young Jackson's astonishingly shy public persona and the confident performer is never completely explained: there are a lot of talking heads here, but none tell us anything that personal. Still, it left me wanting to know about the next phases of his life as well, the rise to megastardom and madness, and his unfortunately early death; and with a sense of recognition of his phenomenal talent, even though his music wasn't my personal taste.

Off The Wall is my favorite Michael Jackson album, so when I heard that Spike Lee was gonna make a documentury about the making of that album it made me excited as I thought he did really good with 'Bad 25 (2012)' which was about the making of MJ's BAD album and 'shortfilms'.

Watching it it feels more rushed than 'Bad 25' which dug deep into the whole making of the album where as this 'Journey from Motown to Off the Wall' is a bit more unfocused.

I mean in a way it makes sense that it would, as it not only covers the making of 'Off the Wall' but the first half of the doc also covers Michael Jackson's career from the very beginning of Jackson 5 to the birth of said album.

Which isn't a bad thing but it also has some stuff I didn't appreciate much, such as there is a guy (think he's a rapper) who talks about how the first time he heard 'She's Out Of My Life' was when Eddie Murphy was making fun of him in 'Delirious'.

And then they go into cutting back and forth Michael Jacksons emotional performance to Eddie Murphy's parody and it just didn't sit right with me as I found it a bit disrespectful and also I don't think many people can relate to that random guy's story either.

And although Justin Bieber was a questionable interview-object in 'Bad 25' I think, Kobe Bryant is even more questionable who get's even more screen-time being interviewed here, like what does he even know about music?

I know Spike Lee is a big basketball fan but jeez.

Also feel like Spike Lee himself occasionally forget to just document as he often reacts loudly to what the interview-objects are saying, making various comments. He also takes the time to tell a story of a childhood story, with a very loose connection to MJ.

And a lot of interviews of substance are archive footage but overall it's still mostly entertaining and interesting.

I know I wrote a lot of things about some less good parts of the documentary but there is still more than enough good clips to go around to validate a watch and I actually kind of hope that Spike Lee will make a documentary about the making of 'Dangerous' as well.