*Sad hee hee noises*

Review of Michael (2026) by pstergos: 👎 6.0/10

So during my younger days one of my dad's favorite things was The Jacksons: An American Dream mini-series. If some channel was playing it, my dad would stop everything and watch it. He ran Joe Jackson's yelling to the ground when he was about saying "Boys!", "Tito!" and "Who's been touching what's mine!". And yes, I was trapped in watching it. I've never seen it from beginning to end but I've seen every scene.

I talk about that cause I saw the biopic phenomenon of the year, Michael, last night. And boy, despite covering pretty much the same period, they could not be more different. That had a bite, it was mean and snarling. Michael breaking free was a triumph of personal survival. You compare it to the movie Michael, with its slick look and softening of every edge including making Joseph into a guy who's "not so bad when you get know him" and you're wondering why waste your time with this movie.

Now you ask is it to mistake to compare Michael with The Jacksons: An American Dream and its a fair question to ask. The miniseries is longer, it has time to breathe and tell it's story right. It treated MJ with the seriousness he deserved. It really is unfair to the movie Michael to only judge it in comparison to the miniseries. Except...it really is totally fair to compare the two.

Because it covers all of the same territory, all the same things but its such a clumsy movie and such a movie for Stans instead of regular people that the only value anyone could get is to hear the songs and see recreations of iconic moments and videos. You can get the same experience watching MJs videos in chronological order without all the fiddly dramatic bits.

However, to be fair...it is a fairly well-made movie. Like I said it's slick enough to keep being interesting even if you wonder what a storyline about Berry Gordy teaching Michael about the production side of things or his family reacting to MJs weirdness(it's not a surprise that the best moment is Bubbles introduction with his family just going WTF in various ways). I would love to see a MJ story that's told through the brothers POV.

But I just can't recommend Michael, the movie, to anyone who likes a story, since there barely is a presentable one, or people wanting to learn about MJ since everything is well-trodden ground. Its only for the stans.