The Critics Were Wrong About The Michael Movie

Added: 2026-05-06

[00:00:00]So, it seems like the critics were wrong about the Michael movie. I'm not surprised about that at all. Honestly, I'm really not. All right, so in today's video, I want to just discuss my thoughts on the Michael movie, what I thought about the entire movie, talking about the controversy surrounding it.

[00:00:11]So, I saw the movie last week, and I thought it was a really solid film. I thought it was very solid. Now, this is coming from someone that used to be a Michael Jackson super fan. I still really like Michael, but I'm not necessarily a super fan of anyone nowadays, but um I was a super fan back as a teenager. Um, I remember when he died, I was 10 years old and I was shook. I was absolutely shook. I mean, my family, we were on vacation in Ghana and like my mom's just like, "Julia, did you know Michael Jackson died?" And I was like, "Michael Jackson died?" I was about to take my shower, too. I was shook. And like I remember watching the funeral while we were there. I remember seeing Paris speaking live and that hit me too because Paris was my age. So, I was like, "Oh my gosh, he's like only 11 and lost her dad. Oh my goodness." I mean, I was 10 turning 11 at the time. I remember being like, "Oh my gosh, what if something like that happened to my dad?" Like, I was I was having those thoughts, you know? So, it was really crazy. But I thought the movie overall was really solid, you know. Of course, there were things that I feel like were missing and like different things like that, but I'm going to get into it. So, first of all, the casting. So, Jafar Jackson, I mean, without question, everyone's been saying it. He was an incredible Michael Jackson. He did absolutely incredible as Michael. Um, I can't even be You can tell he put his blood, sweat, and tears into that role.

[00:01:22]You can tell he put his foot in that role, you know what I mean? Like he was so convincing as Michael. There were so many moments where it really did feel like Michael Jackson. I mean, of course, I knew that it was Jafar. So, like intellectually I like was like, "Okay, this is obviously not Michael." But it feels so much like him, you know?

[00:01:38]Especially scenes where he had his shades on and you could see the bone structure and it looked just like Michael Jackson. the scenes where he was talking a lot, laughing a lot, especially I think during Thriller. I think he felt most it felt most authentic like during the thriller scenes as well as like the bad um concert at the end basically. That was a legit concert. Okay, I was singing in my chair. Jafar did incredible. So did Giuliano who played Young Michael. I thought that he did wonderful. Um Coleman Domingo was a very convincing Joe Jackson. Um I hated him. Okay. And that's how you want it to be, you know.

[00:02:12]And a lot of the film, the crux of the film here was about Michael's conflict with his father Joe with Michael wanting to break free from Joe. I mean, they very much made Joe Jackson the villain in this film. And I do kind of feel like I wish there could have been more dimension because, you know, if you've done a lot of like research on Michael Jackson, you know a lot about Michael Jackson, there's so many aspects to Michael that weren't just central to his dad. I mean, of course, Joe had the biggest like stronghold on him, especially in his early career, but there were so many other elements. Like, for example, I wish they could have shown The Whiz, like the time where Michael went to go film The Whiz, but you know, this was only a 2-hour film, and you know, they had to cut a lot out.

[00:02:49]You know, another big thing that people have an issue with, which I'm going to touch on right now, is the allegations.

[00:02:55]You know, the allegations post uh the bad era, the dangerous era, like the allegations. My thing is this. So, of course, the movie only went up to the bad era. I think that it sucks that that couldn't have been shown. They wanted to show up, then they had to scrap it because of the legal issues. There ended up being I think Michael signed um a contract or signed something that said that he cannot dramaticize the events of 1993. So, they had to scrap that and they had to rework it and now there's going to be a second act. They just green lit a second or sequel to this film. So, I wish that could have been shown in this film because, you know, I think it's important to show the good and the bad of every any entertainer, especially in something like a biopic.

[00:03:34]Like, you want to be able to show all sides of it. You don't want to just kind of sanitize the person because of those legalities, they couldn't show it.

[00:03:40]There's all this talk on the allegations and stuff like that. And I think whatever side of the aisle you're on, whether you think he's guilty or innocent, I mean, either way, his behavior was inappropriate. I think Michael definitely crossed many lines and he put himself and the children children in situations that you they should have never been in. He was crossing a lot of boundaries and I don't think that's like betraying him to say.

[00:03:59]I think that's just keeping it real.

[00:04:00]Like come on, he was a grown man. Like that's common sense. Anywh who, that's not the point of this video. I just wanted to address that. But you know, so barring that. So barring the fact that that wasn't discussed in the film. Kind of going all over the place cuz I didn't I don't have notes. I'm just kind of talking as I remember the film. Um, but basically I kind of wish, especially once we got to the off-the-wall era, I wish that they really could have shown more of like Michael's like motivation, especially from like Off-the-Wall to Thriller. Because if any of you know anything about Michael Jackson, the reason why he was so motivated to make Thriller was because he felt like he got snubbed from Off-the-Wall cuz he thought Off-the-Wall was so experimental. He put grit into that album and he only got one Grammy. And so he was like, "You know what? No, I want to be like the best artist to exist. I don't want to ever be snubbed again. I don't want my race to be a factor in me not achieving what I'm what I'm meant to achieve and born to achieve. So that's why he had that drive to make a thriller. And I wish they would have shown that more. Um but they did show some of that. I think they showed some of that like during the business meetings where he wanted to, you know, get um Billy Gene on MTV, which that was real. Like they in real life like it took a lot for him to get his music on MTV. And once he got his music on MTV, it literally saved MTV, right? So, I wish they could have um shown a little bit more of that, a little bit more well-roundedness behind his his drive, you know, cuz of course we saw like how much he cared about his craft and how he would just be iding.

[00:05:24]He's like, "Oh, I got all these ideas. I want to do all this. I want to do all that." But yeah, I think it would have been cool to show a little bit more of his motivation. I think that would have been really cool to see. I also will say like pacingwise, you know, pacing was a little jumpy. Again, a lot of things got cut out. I feel like there was so much like pre Thriller that really set the stage for Thriller. I mean, The Whiz was such a huge project for him. And you know, that's where he really got really close with Diana Ross. You know, but they didn't show that because Diana didn't want to be in the films. That's a whole other rabbit hole. You know what I'm saying? Cuz D, if you know anything about Michael Michael Jackson and Diana Ross, there was a lot that wasn't looking right. There was a lot that wasn't right with that. But, you know, anywh who, you know, I feel like I'm kind of talking a lot about what I felt was missing from the film because now that it's been a couple days, I'm like, hm, they didn't address this, they didn't address that. But to kind of go more on a positive note, I really loved, you know, the costumeuming. I mean, they they really got the outfits down, they got the sets down, they they went to so many, you know, places that were, you know, like the actual locations like where they actually filmed Thriller, where they actually, you know, where they they were in Havenhurst. I mean, there was a lot of that. It was so cool just kind of seeing like Michael's life kind of in those snippets, you know. It was it was really cool to see. I really enjoyed that. I also think something else I really enjoyed was, you know, going back to how they portrayed him as a child. Again, I thought Juliano did so well as young Michael. You saw him be really precocious. You know, he's reading Peter Pan. He's, you know, he's really interested in animals. They really show his love for animals in this film. I kind of had a gripe with Bubbles like because Bubbles didn't come until I think after Thriller or during Thriller and I think they introduced him still in the off-the-wall era and I was like okay I don't know why they did that but okay.

[00:07:04]Um that's just me being picky as someone who did a ton of research into Michael Jackson as a kid. So it's like it's like all ingrained in me you know and so I was like okay. But that was it was really cute. It was really funny seeing their reaction. You know Michael owned the house. I think it was made very clear, especially in the scene where uh Joe was so upset at being fired, right?

[00:07:20]He got so mad that he got fired and Catherine's like, "Yo, he's the reason why we're still here. He's the reason why we have everything we have." A lot of people are like, "Oh, why didn't Michael move out? Like, why didn't he move out?" Blah blah blah blah, and get his independence. I'm like, "Yo, he owned that house, okay? He owned that house." And like Michael was I think the Havenhurst home was in his name like up until he passed and is now owned by the estate. So that house was his house, okay? He had the right to kick out whoever he wanted, but Michael loved his family too much. He wasn't going to do that. But I just thought that was like really, you know, I thought that was so funny. I think another thing I noticed that I wish they would have went in more is like just how dedicated Michael was to his craft. So, for example, during the Mottown 25 performance, you know, where he, you know, did the moonwalk and touched his toes. Michael said in an interview way back when that he actually wanted to stand on his toes, like he wanted to do the spin and stand on his toes, but then he didn't. And he ended up crying after the show thinking, "Oh my gosh, I screwed that up. I wanted to do that blah blah blah blah." And he did mention it like Jeff Far or you know, Michael, you know, they mentioned it in the film like, "Oh, I wanted to stand on my toes or I wanted to stay there or whatever, but he wasn't crying. He was all happy." And I wish they would have shown him crying cuz I think that would have shown like just how much of a perfectionist Michael was.

[00:08:30]>> I don't think I'm ever pleased with my performances.

[00:08:33]Never. And after that performance, I wasn't happy either. I wanted to do the five spins then go on the toes and freeze there and just hold it and stay there, you know, and I didn't. But I was angry about that actually. Real disappointed. You know what I'm saying?

[00:08:49]Like it would have shown more of a dedication to his craft. Same thing when it came to um the Pepsi uh commercial and he his hair set on fire. In the actual take, like in the actual video of that fire happening, Michael actually spun so fast that the fire went out. But in the film, he's like, "Ah, ah." And I'm just like, "That's not what happened." Like, he actually spun so quick that the fire went out, then they tackled him. That's how it happened in real life. But, you know, it wouldn't have been dramatic enough if they had if they had um shown him doing that. Like, and who knows, maybe Jafar couldn't execute that. I don't know, but I thought it would have been cool if they would have shown that. And going back to like, you know, Michael's childlike nature, I love how they showed the Twister part. He's like, "Hey guys, you want to play Twister?" And they're like, "No, we got dates." And like, you know, he's all sad and everything like that.

[00:09:33]And it's like, you know, it was sad. I was like, man, I'm sure that's how he felt in real life. I read somewhere that apparently he wrote about it in his journal, so he was really sad. And I mean, he just wanted to relive his childhood cuz he never got it. You know, also him at the comic store, that toy store with Bill. Um, you know, it's just it just I like how the film really elucidates like, hey, this guy wanted to relive a life that he never got. You know, the only time he got to really be a kid was with his brothers and that you know, how much is that, right? like that's not really a lot, right? But even then, it's like, you know, he was singing majority of the time and dancing. Again, I'm sorry if I'm like jumping around. There's just so many thoughts that I'm having. Um, I think another thing that I really like that they explained was his vitiligo. They touched on it. It was literally just for a few seconds, but I do enjoy that they touched on it because Michael did indeed have vitiligo. It was on his autopsy, so he wasn't lying about vitiligo. And if you go far back enough, there are images of him with vitiligo. You know, you can see it. There's like little peaks of it.

[00:10:30]So, he wasn't lying about it. And you know, I think it's good that they finally said that on like a, you know, international stage for people to say, "Hey, this guy had bit of Lego. This was not a fake. This was not a fluke. This is what he had." I think another thing too that I noticed that I wish they would have gone more into was just his relationship with his siblings. I mean, of course, we had the twister moment. We had like the moments with them as a Jackson 5, but I feel like a lot of the the siblings were just kind of like extras. It felt like it didn't feel like they had as deep of a impactful role. I mean, interestingly enough, like Michael and Marlin were very close as little kids because they're close in age. You know, Marlin had a twin named Brandon that passed away and so you could say that Michael was like the rainbow baby.

[00:11:09]And Marlin had always said that Michael kind of took that place as as a twin because you know um you know he didn't his twin passed and so Michael and Marlin are only a year apart. And so they were very close growing up and you know they were the babies of the Jackson 5 and you know they would be the ones like hiding out or you know pretending to go to sleep whenever Jackie and the rest of them were doing their activities with women. Okay. Like they they really had each other's backs and I wish they I I didn't like how the actor that you know played Marlin I mean I'm not no shade to the actor who played him. you know, he did great, but I don't like how they got someone that looks so much older or looks so different because Michael and Marlin were peers. They were like this, you know, so it was kind of weird to me. Also, of course, we don't really have the sisters. We only have Latoya and Latoya didn't really play any role in the film at all. Um, but Janet did not want to be in the film. Neither did Reie. So, it was just kind of weird.

[00:12:00]Like, I just feel like they could have just did without I don't know. They should have just maybe did the Jack. I don't know. I just thought that was a little weird to not have like any of the other sisters there. It's just kind of strange. Overall, I thought it was a really good watch. I mean, there's so much more I could say about this film. I thought it was great. You know, obviously the critics were wrong cuz now apparently, let me check the box office.

[00:12:20]I'm going to check like what was the box office. So, the Michael movie literally had a $97 million opening weekend domestically. It shattered the record for the biggest domestic opening for biopic, surpassing the previous record held by Oenheimer and nearly doubling the debut of Bohemian Rapsidity. Wow.

[00:12:35]And then international, so was 120 million. So global is 217 to 218 million. And it currently holds the second best domestic opening of 2026, trailing only the Super Mario Galaxy movie. And despite receiving mixed to poor critical reviews by critics, the audiences gave it a 97% score and an A minus cinema score. though.

[00:12:57]I mean, again, not surprised at all. But anyway, I thought this movie was great.

[00:13:01]I thought, especially if you're a Michael Jackson fan or if you know a lot about him, you're not going to learn anything new from watching this film, but I think it's going to be like a nice highlight reel of his life. And if you're a newcomer, you know, you're going to have fun. You're going to learn some different things that you might not have understood about Michael or never heard about. So, I think you'll enjoy it no matter what, no matter what age you are. It's a really fun film. Um, I just thought of the prince comment. That was so funny. He's like, "Oh, if I don't do these songs, he's going to give it to Prince." Yeah, that was there was there's a lot there. There's a lot there with that. Um, you know, spiritually and professionally with that. So, um, yeah.

[00:13:34]Anyh who, thought it was a great film.

[00:13:36]Um, let me know if you'all saw the film.

[00:13:37]Let me know what you thought about the film. Do you plan on watching part two when it comes out? And, yeah, were you a fan of Michael Jackson? And yeah, thank you guys so much for watching this video and I'll talk to you'all in the next