It may seem hard to believe now, but back in the 1980s Michael Jackson didn't need to refer to himself as the King of Pop; we all KNEW he was, in part because his lifestyle and pecadillos hadn't yet started to overwhelm his music (back when his music was worth the effort of overwhelming). One of the offshoots of his amazing success was "Moonwalker," a movie basically designed to celebrate the awesomeness that is - or was - Michael Jackson, which was a massive cinematic Christmas gift for his fans in 1988 just about everywhere, except at home; Jackson's then-manager and one of the movie's executive producers Frank DiLeo demanded a massive share of the box office from its potential US distributor, and when they said no "Moonwalker" was released directly to video in the US.
The trouble is, viewed as a movie this decision isn't hard to understand - "Moonwalker" isn't so much a movie as a collection of music videos, all varying in quality. The bits dealing with Michael's younger years are truly fun, and so are some of the special effects throughout (like Will Vinton's work in "Speed Demon"), but the centrepiece of the short film "Smooth Criminal" (pint-sized villain Joe Pesci, as "Lideo" [get it?], wants to get all the children in the world hooked on drugs, and guess who has to stop him? Clue: His name appears 45 times in the credits) doesn't work, in part because the story stops dead to allow for the "Smooth Criminal" video to be shown in its entirety.
The movie's unending and unquestioning adoration of Michael Jackson gets its fullest flower there, although the video for "Leave Me Alone" (in which he basically exploits his life in song while at the same time telling us to go away, something he would later take even further in "Stop Questioning Me" and "Black or White," which set new standards for self-serving BS topped only by Geri Halliwell and Jennifer Lopez) comes close. Even at the time it seemed a bit much, and viewed today... well, remember how ill-timed the joke in "Addams Family Values" about a kid screaming at a poster of Michael Jackson was? The entire movie nowadays has that same feel magnified; plus it feels like a relic from another age.
The shame of it all now is that it reminds you that MJ really was a wizard once upon a time, but it's all changed now.
