After a brief appearance of Michael Jackson as an adult, the film switches back to 1966. Eight-year-old Michael is rehearsing with his older brothers. His father, Joseph, directs them. Unfortunately, he makes them work harder than they want.

The mother, Katherine, reminds Joseph that the boys still need to go to school. But Joseph rejects that and claims that everyone is either a winner or a loser.

After some performances and rehearsals, Michael is exhausted. Sadly, his father won’t accept that and beats him with a belt as discipline.

Nevertheless, Michael, and his brothers, publicly known as the Jackson 5, succeed with their performances and top charts on different music boards. They even earn enough money to move out of Gary, Indiana and to California.

Two years later, Berry Gordy, the founder of the music company, Motown, meets Michael. He hears some of his songs and firmly believes that he would make a good solo artist. Michael even becomes close to him.

In 1978, Michael starts his career as a solo artist. Regardless of that, though, his father still wants him to sing with his brothers. He even forces him to tour with them, even though Michael is an adult now.

At some point, Michael feels a bit insecure over his physical appearance. So, he gets an operation on his eyes and nose to “fix” their flaws.

In addition, he receives a chimpanzee that he applied to adopt and names him Bubbles. He also has a llama, giraffe, and snake.

In 1981, Michael meets a guy, John Branca, who has also managed other musicians, including the Beach Boys. Once he hires John as his attorney, Michael asks him to fire his dad. Of course, Joseph is unhappy when he finds out about it.

Michael continues to please his fans by signing autographs and even visiting sick kids in hospitals. Simultaneously, he brainstorms new ideas for his songs and music videos, such as “Beat It.”

When the news plays, it shows a moment involving crime. Then Michael comes across a horror movie playing on TV. That inspires him for the “Thriller” music video.

Once again, Michael’s music becomes extremely popular. Michael even wants his music videos to play on MTV. However, the head is hesitant to accept his request because he’s worried that MTV will ruin their reputation if they play media from black people. Yet he decides to move forward with Michael’s wishes.

Meanwhile, though, Joseph is planning a Jackson 5 tour. But that only leads to various problems.

Despite how there really isn’t a plot since this is based on the life of a real person, the way it was formatted kept my attention. A big reason was because the scenes were very short and constantly changed. Another was because there was lots of music, although I wouldn’t exactly call this a musical—at least not in the traditional way.

Although the scenes were brief and singing performances were fun, I will admit that the pacing felt a bit too slow. Less time would pass than it seemed, especially with the short moments. And this movie is around 2 hours long.

I do appreciate adding the years of different parts. That did help with moving the film forward. In addition, I admired the acting.

Not only did the kid who played Michael Jackson as a child nail the part, particularly with his singing voice, but so did the guy portraying adult Michael. In fact, he is actually related to the real Michael Jackson. His name is Jaafar Jackson (I wonder if his first name is tough to live with thanks to the villain in Disney’s Aladdin), and he is Michael Jackson’s nephew. His voice and mannerisms reminded me of the actual Michael Jackson—at least his depiction in different types of media. I’m guessing the real Michael Jackson would have loved both actors’ performances.

However, he likely would have been displeased with the fact that much of his childhood abuse was overlooked in the movie. Critics have actually pointed out that. And the real surviving Jacksons disliked that.

Yet that moment did not bother me. But one element that I felt was a little weak was the portrayal of Bubbles the chimpanzee. It was a bit too obvious that he was a CGI.

Of course, it would not have been a good idea to use a real chimp since it’s a wild animal and could attack people. In fact, Lionsgate, who produced this movie, promised PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) that they wouldn’t use real primates.

However, I think the team responsible for the design of Bubbles could have made him look more realistic. A lot of movies have made CG animals look completely realistic.

Just like with other films based on true stories or real people, certain elements were likely fictionalized. For instance, Michael and his brothers regularly called their dad by his first name, which felt weird to watch. I don’t even know if it was even historically accurate for the real Jacksons.

Otherwise, I enjoyed Michael. Note that this is rated PG-13 for language and tobacco usage.

Anyway, I give it 4 out of 5 stars.