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Critics Consensus: While it may not be the definitive concert film (or the insightful backstage look) some will hope for, Michael Jackson's This Is It packs more than enough entertainment value to live up to its ambitious title.
Critic Consensus: While it may not be the definitive concert film (or the insightful backstage look) some will hope for, Michael Jackson's This Is It packs more than enough entertainment value to live up to its ambitious title.
View All Michael Jackson's This Is It News
All Critics (184) | Top Critics (43) | Fresh (148) | Rotten (36) | DVD (7)
The Michael Jackson we see here is not a self-styled Messiah or a tabloid oddity. He is, instead, what he always was underneath it all: a talented musician, a brilliant dancer, and one of the most gifted entertainers of his time.
It's purpose isn't to reinvent Jackson, but to recapture some of the creative magic that made the kid from Indiana a worldwide musical ambassador.
It's an expertly packaged -- brilliantly packaged, considering how quickly the job was done -- phantasmagoria that emphasizes, quite convincingly, the energy that Michael could still draw from whatever was fueling his wraith-thin body.
Michael Jackson's perfectionism fails him in This Is It, and we're all the better for it.
Perhaps the best way to approach it -- at least for those who are not total Jackson fans -- is to view it as an often-fascinating document on how the sausage (or magic, if you will) is made for a mega-concert tour.
It's a fitting celebration of a controversial man's last days, packaged prettily with a bow on top.
A film that treads way too carefully around the star and the desire to preserve his image as the consummate entertainer.
I think you're going to feel like you paid full price to watch the special features on a Michael Jackson DVD.
It's always inspiring to see a genius at work. And that's exactly how I felt watching Michael Jackson in This Is it--inspired.
Don't watch this documentary film expecting to find insight into Jackson's troubled psyche, or to spot premonitions of his impending death, watch instead for glimpses of his peerless talent.
Sometimes he loses his voice and sometimes he even loses his temper. The film never shows us whether or not Michael Jackson had lost his mind. But it does show us that he never lost his talent.
There are some who will claim this documentary is ghoulish. I think haunting is a better word, as you fathom what the music world would have been like had he lived.
After Michael Jackson's death i was addicted to knowing more about him and now he's my favorite singer, and when this movie was released in theaters, literally, everyone in my family went to go see it, and it blew all of us away, each and every music rendition Michael did from his hit songs (yet for some reason they didn't have bad, speed demon, will you be there, or black or white.) R.I.P. Michael Jackson we all miss you, your family, my family, everyone misses you, you were a true change to this world
Super Reviewer
A very well-edited behind-the-scenes clearly made for fans, showing nice rehearsals and backstage footage of Michael Jackson's concert that never was, but let's only hope this is not the ultimate film to be made about him.
This movie made me love Michael Jackson. We lost a truly great artist...This was a great look into what a perfectionist (in a good way) he was and how much effort he put into his work. And if you want to see some more great MIchael, watch his short film/music Video for Ghost. Very very entertaining. :)
RIP King..
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