I saw Michael on Saturday afternoon and, to my surprise, I enjoyed much more than I thought I would.

Some years ago, a group from the bar went to see MJ on Broadway. I declined because I was having difficulty separating the accusations against him and his art. I have since have had many discussions with various friends about that – separating the art from the bad things the artist did. Sometimes time makes it easier to enjoy the art again. Sometimes I never stop enjoying the art and compartmentalize it.

My friends Michael and Marco were already in the lobby and had bought the tickets because the place was filling up. This is our local theater and it’s not unusual for us to be in a theater with only five other people. So the crowd surprised us – especially because of the bad reviews for the previews. And when we left, the lobby was again crowded with people waiting to see the next showing.

Things I liked:

1. They performed full songs. I hate when I see a movie about a musician and all we hear are snippets of songs.
2. We saw more of the younger Michael’s story than I expected. Jaafar Jackson has been getting good reviews but Juliano Valdi does a great job also.
3. All the actors were very good.
4. Not continuing the false story that Diana Ross discovered the Jackson 5. We know that Suzanne de Passe convinced Berry Gordy to sign them. And they do show her seeing them on stage and giving Joe Jackson her card, which did not happen. (I recognized her before she spoke to Joe Jackson but I kept wondering what happened to her blonde hair.) Bobby Taylor is the one who produced their Motown audition and originally discovered them.
5. The surprise cameo. Again, this time because of the makeup, I recognized Walter Yetnikoff right away (but did not recognize the actor under the makeup), and the scene was about Yetnikoff’s famous threat against MTV.

What I did not like:

1. Showing Michael in too many situations where he is treating children around him with kindness. The family produced the movie and at the end it says “His Story Continues” because it ends before the accusations and it felt like they were gearing up for sanitizing his reputation. I have read that they had to scrap a lot of the film because of legal clauses about the Jackson estate never being allowed to depict certain people (like Jordan Chandler), so the entire third act of the movie, which showed the allegations, was cut.
2. They show Michael in charge of things that were collaborations. He alone choreographs the “Beat It” video but standing right next to him, just like in the video, is the actual choreographer. And they make it seem like Michael came up with everything in the studio and you know that when you work with a producer like Quincy Jones, he is going to have a lot of input.
3. Michael has the high voice throughout the movie and we know that privately, he spoke in his normal voice.
4. His eyebrows were on fleek while he was recovering in the hospital from burns but then I was reminded that he had tattooed his eyebrows, so that was probably why.

Neither Rebbie or Janet are portrayed in the movie nor are they ever mentioned. I am guessing that neither wanted to be associated with the movie. Via Instagram, I learned that Randy is not portrayed in the movie either – I knew there was a younger brother but with all the boys running around, I’d forgotten about him. LaToya is all over the movie, especially since she’s the only girl in the family that we see (and she’s also one of the executive producers, along with some of her brothers and Michael’s son).

The CGI Bubbles (chimp) and all the other animals were cool but it is unfortunate that the CGI-ness of them was so obvious.

Jaafar’s dancing was very good and as close to Michael’s as I think anyone has gotten. I saw The Jacksons for their Triumph tour and afterwards I told friends that Michael dances as if he has no bones in his body. I do not think anyone could absolutely recreate his dancing.

One of the complaints about the movie is because of the reshoots, it feels like one music video after another with a few dramatic scenes in-between. But for me, that was a positive. I love his music and his dancing, so to watch that made me happy. There were people singing along with the movie and dancing as we left the theater.