Let’s get this out of the way. If you’re looking for a no-holds-barred, boundaries-pushing film that delves deep into the highs and pits of Michael Jackson’s entire and storied life…well…I’d beat it if I were you. Imagine a prestige, made-for-tv style, rags-to-riches musician biopic, generically and chronologically told with some Hollywood a’ish-listers (Colman Domingo and Nia Long) in tow, and you have the mostly smooth sailing family-friendly film Michael. For those of you who are too young to have known the musician prior to his many controversies, it’s a time machine that takes us all back to that simpler time when Michael Jackson was universally beloved and the only problematic bits and pieces we heard were the parental mumblings of his lost childhood due to the workload placed on him as a singing and dancing child prodigy. The film suspends itself within this magical zeitgeist of yesteryear, far far away from the louder, alleged, you-know-what realm. And though I’m not usually a glossing-over-the-ugly-details type, for this film and it’s time travel bubble, I’m good to bob about and remember a time when this tremendous artist gave us the best of him. But it ain’t all black and white. There’s immediate references to Michael’s father Joe Jackson’s abusive and career controlling nature, it treads lightly into his penchant for plastic surgery, and there is a hint to the start of his eventual addiction to pain killers. Yet it’s all rather PG, because this film isn’t looking to upset anyone (save the critics). It’s a curated and entertaining snapshot, and yes, an eye-rolling one at that. Between lawyer John Branca (Miles Teller), who comes across as the prince charming of music executives, and the four mostly mute Jackson brothers and sister Latoya, there’s nary a whiff of bad intentions or jealousy beyond his father. There’s no mention of Janet, the second most famous Jackson sibling, not to mention the three other Jackson children. Bubbles the chimpanzee gets a bigger role than all of them put together. Of course there’s always room for another movie down the line that takes an alternative, darker, more nuanced tone. And I’ll watch it. But for now, this trick is for kids. Today’s youth (like us once upon a time) know only of his songs from their cartoons – e.g. Shrek (2001), Megamind (2010), Despicable Me 3 (2017), Sing: Thriller (2024) and from their parents turning up his hits on carpools. Some of those parents will watch alongside and remember waiting up for the hyped, late-night premier of the groundbreaking 14 minute, John Landis directed video for Thriller back in 1983.  My grade school principal made time for us at the end of our assemblies to lip-sych Beat It back to back to back. The iconic jacket was a hallway staple. Michael had our attention and I’m not exaggerating when I say that he was everything. That’s not to say his “problems” and downfall should be ignored for all time. Like us, the next generation will learn soon enough about the allegations, anorexia and death by overdose. But is it so wrong to reminisce for a couple of hours, to a time when Michael Jackson was just music? Maybe. Maybe I’m okay with that. Maybe I’m bad.

WATCH OR NOT: WATCH