Throwback Thursday: ‘Moonwalker’

I thought that June 25th it might be a good idea to go back and take a look at Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker and see who if fares over time and after his death. The answer is a mixed one. I couldn’t help but like this film, but I laughed at all it’s lunacy crazy ideas.

Moonwalker is less of a film, and more of an experience. It’s actual story driven film doesn’t start until fourty minutes into the movie. Before that we’re given several music videos and a montage of Michael’s life. We start with “Man in the Mirror,” which is done through a montage of concert footage. There are girls screaming, fainting, trying desperately to get onto the stage, and of course Michael just rocking out and giving a truly great show. It’s truly aweinpiring in some cases when you see the huge arenas and oudoor venues he’d sell out.

This takes us into Michael’s life by showing us a small room filled with memorabilia from over the years. Everything from studded gloves to shoes and a lot of family photos, while we listen to sound bites from his early career and more. We then travel with the TV that turns into a space ship and we get a montage of his life done through a lot of claymation and clips from music videos and TV shows. The Jackson 5 footage is fantastic and it’s enhanced with some cool effects. If you’re a fan of Michael it’s really hard to sit through this enitre segment without getting a little depressed. The man’s career was packed with tallented hit after hit before the tabloids and rumors hit. This montage if filled with just hit after hit single and it starts to become a little staggering.

What comes next is “Badder” which is a famous interpretation of the “Bad” that’s done entirely by children. It still comes off as awesome and hilarious even two decades later. We get “Baby Bad” Michael walking off set and suddenly turning into adult Michael and we’re instantly off into another music video “Speed Demon” which is about fans and reporters chasing Michael across America and to get away from them he dresses up as a large claymation rabbit. We get this really strange real world/claymation hybrid that still works and a lot of it looks great. The rabbit version of Michael dances and moves just like Michael would and they even have a dance off. It’s classic.

That eventually moves us into “Leave Me Alone” which is Michael’s answer to the tabloids at the time. Michael is seen as taking a ride through a strange ammusement park that is actually his own body and life. We see glimpses of everything people were talking about him from own the Elephant Man’s body and even addresses the plastic surgery done to his nose. They even bring up little things like his supposed shrine to Liz Taylor. The entire video is imaginative and well made. It’s done with a strange semi-stopmotion animation style but with real photogrpahs manipulated in post. It’s a great statement and now looking back on it, maybe people should have left him alone.

When “Leave Me Alone” ends we’re finally treated to the real “movie” of Moonwalker. Moonwalker is the story of three kids, Zeke, Katie and Sean who all know Michael. They spy on him at night coming out of his nice apartment and then see him get gunned down by a group of soldiers and then we flash back to a time with all of the kids and Michael hanging out playing soccer. When their dog skipper gets lost in the woods, Michael and Katie go after him, getting lost and taken to a dark scary part of the forrest that isn’t dark or scary at all despite what Michael says.

Michael and Kate stumble into a factory making drugs by a japanese top knot wearing Joe Pesci calling himself “Mr Big”. It’s a very heavy handed approach of saying “drugs are bad, Michael Jackson says so”. Mr Big actually says “I want every kid in this world to take drugs because of me!” It’s just terrible acting and you don’t buy it for a second. I remember being five or six years old and thinking this guy was the most evil person in the world, but now, he’s just hacking his way through the role. Flash forward to when Michael was getting gunned down and we see that he ducks just in the nick of time.

There’s a huge chase between Michael and Mr Big’s security through the streets and they finally have Michael trapped. What happens next is the start of one of the craziest films of all time. Michael sees a shooting star and wishes on it, and then turns into a car. Yes Michael Jackson actually transformers into a futuristic (for the time) car and flies away.

The rest of the movie is just as absurred with scene after scene that makes little sense. They actually manage to fit in “Smooth Criminal,” which is a modern take on speak easys from the 1930s, and it some how makes sense despite the previous scene involving Michael turning into a car.

But if Michael turning into a car weren’t strange enough the finale involves the most insane ending of all time. I won’t give away the finale of course, but let’s just say Michael Jackson was the first Transformer to ever hit the big screen.

It’s really hard to do a serious review on this film because it’s not really a film. Sure it was on the big screen, but it’s more of a series of music videos and ideas with almost no plot to it at all. There’s no story until 45 minutes into the movie and that story doesn’t last much longer than 30 and then we get a concert with Michael singing “Come Together”. It’s a pretty good cover I guess, but after what you’d just seen for the past hour and 15 minutes it’s a pretty lack luster one.

Moonwalker should be seen by anyone even a little bit curious as to what was going on in Michael Jackson’s head. It’s confusing, but fun to watch. It really does achieve everything it tries to do, and for that I can’t fault it. It’s an insane trip through strange ideas and great music and in the end you’ll probably like it.