Review of Moonwalker (1988) by Donna S — 15 Jun 2010

I am very familiar with this film, having seen it more than 10 times.The movie is historic in that it marks the time line of Michael Jackson's adult career, after the release of the Bad album, preceded by [i]Thriller[/i].

[b][i]Moonwalker [/i][/b]is Michael Jackson's effort to further explore how music and film have the ability to work in harmony. The movie begins with a live performance (taped around the world on the Bad tour) of the song [b][i]Man in the Mirror[/i][/b]. We then move into a comedic version of Bad in which all of the dancers and even Jackson are played by children who are highly skilled dancers for 10 year-old children. The next song presented is [i][b]Speed Demon[/b][/i], which was completed in claymation and is great to watch.

Since the movie is not technically a movie with a beginning, middle, and end. Rather, it is a mix of Mr. Jackson's ideas straight from his mind to film segments. There is a main feature which arrives midway through the movie and runs around 25 minutes.

The film includes the long film version of [i][b]Smooth Criminal. [/b][/i]Thisis one of Jackson's most overlooked videos. It is a phenomenol demonstration of Jackson's spectacular dancing, exceptional coreography, and incredible ability to put this on film). Jackson and Joe Peschi (playing Mr. Evil) fight one another over drug use while maintaining a bit of a candy coat until the end sequence which is extremely violent and full of explosions and death. Jackson is more violent than noted. This is a commonality of Jackson's films (i.e. breaking windows in Black or White). Thriller is also quite dark in concept and I am curious as to why the video including the making of are not available on Netflix.

After this, the Smooth Criminal segment plays, followed by [i][b]Come Together[/b] [/i](yes, a remake of the Beatles' song but he owns it so he's the one who is laughing). I attended the shoot for [i]Come Together, [/i]which trys to appear as if it is a live performance, even though we spent 13 hours filming the same song.

The movie includes some other songs and extras, but these are the highlights. There is also a very cool song, sung by Lady Mumbasa. It was written for Jackson, and is titled [b][i]The Moon is Walking[/i][/b]. The entire film is worth watching just for the credit song.

I give the movie a 10 rating for it's history and my history with the movie. Anyone watching will have at least ONE favorite video/performance/song from the movie. How many movies offer that? And why not re-live Jackson's highlight; an amazing time, an amazing entertainer, and a great humanitarian.