Now In Theaters - This Is It

Earlier this year we lost one of the most influential performers of the past three or four generations when Michael Jackson passed away. You know a guy is meaningful when both your grandparents AND your teenage cousins idolize him. I have to admit when MJ passed, I was pretty torn up about it. My father grew up on young MJ and I grew up to the MJ that became a GLOBAL icon. Beyonce, Brittney, Timberlake, Chris Brown, Omarion, Usher... you name the pop star and they will tell you that Michael was a huge influence on them wanting to become musicians.

Before Michael's unfortunate passing, he was planning one final worldwide tour. The rehearsals and various other aspects of the planning phase of the tour were recorded at his request. He had hoped to have this as something to remember his final tour with. This film was made instead, and it is a WONDERFUL tribute to the legend. It opens up with some of the dancers giving their account on MJ and why they wanted to audition. Dancers flew from all over in order to have the opportunity to just be in front of the man they idolize so much. The emotion in there voices and how many of them were on the verge of tears when expressing their admiration for him was a very, very moving opening to a very emotional film.

Being a fan of MJ it was a pleasure to see the behind the scenes on how he creates his shows that have sold out arenas in so many different countries. he had no problem stopping things and letting everyone know that there needs to be just a small change here. In watching this film, it becomes so obvious that the man was a perfectionist. He demanded perfection of himself, so of course it would trickle down on those around him. From the dancers, to the musicians, to the backup singer all the way to the lighting crew!! And despite his desire for perfection and nothing less, he was not without praise when they got it right. He was quick to throw out a "God bless you" LOL. I especially loved how he wanted his performers to all be recognized. At various times throughout the show he wanted his supporting cast to really "ham it up" so to speak. There are a few times when he outright stops them and tells them, "this is your moment."

I cannot tell you how many times I sat there and said to myself, "This man is 50???" I am 30 and I can't imagine myself doing half the things that MJ was doing. And what is really impressive is that he wasn't even really going 100%. Often he wouldn't do all the moves or hit all the notes, but it was obvious that he wouldn't miss a beat when it came to show time. It was a few times that he went all out (and to be honest, I wouldn't be shocked if he still could have gone harder) and I was blown away. Even the other performers were looking at him with that "WOW" expression. You could read their minds. You just knew they were thinking "I'm 25 and having trouble keeping up with this 50 year old!!" It is just plain amazing how this man still glides across a stage.

There are several video cut sequences that were to be incorporated into show as well. Very impressive CG scenes and even a few 3D sequences were going to be used. I found myself wondering how much was the budget on this thing? They were doing green screen and CG that you see in big major motion pictures. I was thoroughly impressed!! It's hard for me to give this one a true rating. For one, this is my first time reviewing a documentary. Another reason is because I am just a huge fan of the artist. I mean, MJ could come out on stage and stand there for 10 minutes, do a spin move and leave and I would probably lose my mind. Anyone out there that is a fan of MJ should RUN out and see this. As a fan, I give this one a 9.75 out 10 easily. But if I try to put my MJ biased to the side and look at this from purely an artistic aspect I would still give it a very solid 8.5 out of 10. It was very well put together.