MICHAEL JACKSON’S THIS IS IT

Michael Jackson’s final, never-staged tour comes alive through rehearsal footage, close-up singing and dancing, special effects, and conversations with musicians and the director. Fans will likely find the film fascinating. Less devoted viewers may find the repeated rehearsal fragments and interruptions tedious.

The film also carries suggestive dancing, including frequent crotch grabbing by Jackson and male dancers. Its central environmental message says that people are destroying a sick planet and must help heal it. Jackson speaks of faith and says “God bless you,” but the film does not clarify faith’s object.

Because the movie is a three-star compilation rather than a finished show, and because its content calls for discernment, wait to watch it at home.

This documentary follows the making of Michael Jackson’s world tour stage show, from dancer auditions through staging and dress rehearsals. The show was ultimately never performed because of Jackson’s untimely death.

The film offers an insider’s look at the planned production, including lavish video playback, special effects, fireworks, Jackson’s hit songs, and filmed segments designed to appear onstage.

Three stars means a worthwhile but uneven documentary. The filmmakers did a great job salvaging rehearsal and backstage footage to create a coherent movie from material that never became a finished concert.

The film includes rare glimpses of Jackson conferring with musicians and the director. The planned show would have been lavish, but viewers never quite get the finished product. Interruptions and staging issues remain, and subtitles are often needed to understand what Jackson is saying. For fans, the close-up performances make the film a delight; for others, the rehearsal format may feel tedious.

The film presents a strong mixed pagan worldview alongside a strong environmentalist message and light politically correct and humanist statements. Its environmental centerpiece says that humanity is destroying a sick planet and has a limited window to help heal it. The film also suggests that dancing in a show gives meaning to a dancer’s life.

Jackson frequently says “God bless you” and says that people must have faith, but the film does not identify whom or what they should trust. The worldview therefore mixes spiritual language with an unclear object of faith, while its environmental concern can be weighed against the biblical call to care for God’s creation.

The film’s deepest positive emphasis is collaboration, performance, and the desire to inspire love in others. Yet its pagan and humanist elements depart from a biblical view that grounds meaning and hope in God rather than in performance or an undefined faith.

Scripture calls people to “work it and keep it” in God’s creation (Genesis 2:15). That gives viewers a sounder foundation for stewardship than the film’s message alone.

Michael Jackson’s final rehearsal film preserves remarkable performances and a lavish show that never reached the stage. But its unfinished form and suggestive, spiritually mixed content make it better suited to careful home viewing. For family movie night, choose from our family-friendly picks.

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