My sister came over today for human interaction during the pandemic, and as she needed a wholly distracting movie, I decided to pull out all the stops, and put on Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker. This movie, which he put out in 1988, is, in a word, weird.
In fact, when summarizing the “plot” of the movie, it ends up just being a list of things that happen. Music videos after music videos, then Michael Jackson saves some kids from Joe Pesci, and turns into a robot alien before shunting the kids off into his greenroom while he does a final concert. But, to experience it, is simply baffling, especially for the unprepared.
In the hindsight of “Leaving Neverland“, along with the court cases, it really casts some of the scenes, especially the ones with children, which are just so strange, in a different light.
I think that it actually tells us a lot about Michael Jackson, his ego, the way that he compares himself to Ghandi, Jesus, and Martin Luther King Jr. But confusingly, the strange, and very childish plot, mixed with the number of music videos make me wonder who in fact the movie is targeted to, besides fans of Michael Jackson. There seems to be no unifying target age between any of the segments.
In the end, it’s a curiosity with some decent songs, including the quite snappy, Smooth Criminal music video, though the ‘interlude’ part of it is also on the spectrum of weirdness. Check it out once if you like his music, or really want to watch something bizarre.
/rant 