brett-76260 Overall an average film at best. I think they left out all kinds of tidbits concerning the last few years of his life. Acting was fairly solid and the guy that played Michael was pretty good. Story could have been deeper though. Anyway would I recommend it? Meh... Take it or leave it.

Mark Turner Michael Jackson was one of those mega-stars you either loved or hated. Loved because of the music he gave to more than one generation, hated because of the allegations of inappropriate behavior behind the scenes. What this film does is attempt to paint a portrait of him as a loving family man concerned more about his children than anything else.The film is told through the eyes of Bill Whitfield (Chad Coleman) and based on the book he wrote. Whitfield was hired as personal protection for Jackson and his family when they returned to the U.S. Jackson and his children returned to the country after having move to Bahrain. With his Neverland estate a place of bad memories the family moves into a temporary home in Las Vegas. Searching for someone to trust the job of relaying the family to the home becomes a permanent protection job for Whitfield.The movie progresses with the quirks of Jackson touched on but never too in depth with most being left out altogether. Instead we're presented with a stream of employees who eventually all fail him, some because of self-interest and others because of his own issues. The main one of those is his unwillingness to return to work even though his financial situation is in decline due to his enormous legal woes and spending habits.As seen through the eyes of Whitfield and his second in command Javon Beard (Sam Adegoke) Jackson is nothing more than a man who wants the best for his children, struggling with the fame he created that now intrudes upon them all. At the same time Jackson comes off as childlike in his own right. While the movie never talks about it, one has to assume that not having the opportunity to truly have a childhood of his own, Jackson struggled with that while trying to be a parent at the same time.The film follows two years in the life of Jackson, from his return to this country through his death. Told in flashbacks while prosecutors interview Whitfield and Javon, it allows them to comment on things as much as provide stories of those two years. What it doesn't do is give any depth to the story of what happened. Most all is puff pieces depicting Jackson in the most flattering way possible.Coleman and Adegoke do the best they can with their performances here making both men very credible. The same can't be said for Navi as Jackson. A professional Jackson impersonator his acting skills are subpar level. It's apparent he's had surgery to appear like Jackson and that seems to have made his facial muscles unable to allow him to speak properly at times or to display any emotions other than full on sad or smile. The end result is to make him as eerie to watch as Jackson became after numerous plastic surgery mishaps.Coming from Lifetime Channel I wasn't expecting much from this movie and the end result matched my expectations. Little is learned of Jackson by the end of the film and rather than take a balanced look at the man the reverence with which he is treated here is palpable.Michael Jackson was not a simple person to understand and no biographical film will ever find a way of peeling back the onion like layers of his life and his mind. When you take a man who was robbed of a normal childhood, whose father was abusive, whose brothers (according to at least one scene in this film) treated him poorly, who was surrounded by sycophants and users and who dreamed of little more than a normal life while encouraged by those around him to live abnormally you begin to realize no simple film will do him justice. This one does less than that attempting to glorify him instead. Worse yet it does so in the most bland way possible.

Divination Wisdom There have been various films, documentaries plus many other types of media endeavours (and there probably are more to come still), but this touching biopic is of different class. With a screenplay based on the book (Remember the time - Protecting Michael Jackson in his final days) written by Michael's most devoted bodyguards Bill Whitfield and Javon Beard, the very few people who stood by him unconditionally, the movie brings soul-stirring insight into Michael's life mainly as a father. Masterfully directed by Dianne Houston and with Suzanne de Passe (whom worked with Michael since he was only the wonder baby brother of the Jackson 5) as one of the executive producers, the talented entire team, from actors and all behind the cameras to lights, wardrobe, makeup and hair, has uniquely managed to recreate all the Michael Jackson magic without using any original piece of his work or otherwise related.  Not only a wonderful performance from Chad Coleman, who seemed to me was playing the actual main character telling a most moving story about the greatest entertainer of all times and Navi breathtakingly playing Michael Jackson, but all the actors did a fabulous job of their role.The end result is a great movie that takes us on a very emotional journey, soulfully and skilfully depicted. I feel is a loving, respectful tribute to Michael, but also a way for every Michael Jackson fan to grieve on a more profound level and hopefully get closure. An opportunity for anyone to learn and understand that unprecedented success comes only with tremendous effort and hard work, that the price of fame can be life threatening. Last but not least, that celebrities too are only human beings who can get easily hurt, even permanently damaged, just like we all can and that they need and deserve same level of respect and privacy everyone else does in order to feel safe and help them function properly.

asrexproductions Before I talk about this film, let me give it some context by talking about who Michael Jackson was, from a historical perspective.Michael Jackson's "Thriller" album sold 46 MILLION albums. That's 46 times platinum. Not one. Not ten. 46. There is no album that has come close yet, unless you count his "Bad," which was once the #2 selling album of all time. I once read an article where they interviewed several record executives, on the condition of anonymity, to comment on the top artists in music that year (sometime in the 2010s). It became clear to me that the goal of the record industry is to recreate Michael Jackson. Madonna and Janet are female Michael Jackson. Usher and Chris Brown (before Brown screwed it up) are seen as "Michael Jackson types." So is Justin Timberlake. The Weekend. The whole music business in the latter part of the 20th century, was about trying to recreate Michael Jackson, as many times as it could.And how did he end up? Penniless and essentially alone, struggling to raise his children, according to this riveting film.MICHAEL JACKSON: SEARCHING FOR NEVERLAND (Dianne Houston, 2017) struck me as a heartbreaking chronicle of a person living strictly off of his fame, but unlike Kim Kardashian or Donald Trump, not being rewarded for it, just using it to survive. Told through the eyes of his personal bodyguards and assistants in the waning years of his life (Chad L. Coleman and Sam Adegoke), Michael Jackson (Navi) struggles to find a home where he can safely live with his children (Aidan Hanlon Smith, Taegen Burns, Michael Mourra) without having to dodge his agents, his fans, maniacal detractors, stalkers, and even his own family, all either trying to live off or destroy him. Throughout all of this, his bodyguards faithfully stay by his side out of pity, even when the money dries up and their own families doubt their sanity for staying so long in a job that simply doesn't pay. I feel the film makes it very clear that Jackson truly was a prisoner of his own success, long after he had stopped being successful. More oddity than King of Pop, the Michael Jackson of MICHAEL JACKSON: SEARCHING FOR NEVERLAND is a broken and tragic figure, buoyed by the love of his children and the last two people who seemed to care. For as the film notes in its final moments, for all the people that spoke highly of him at and after his funeral, no one was there when Jackson died, nor were there for him while he was going through it, struggling to raise his children as any single father might. To the film's credit, I felt it did a good job of showing Michael as flawed, even culpable for his own condition, but hardly deserving of what he got. I feel that it isn't the Michael Jackson story for the casual fan, rather it's a cautionary tale for those seeking to be the Michael Jackson of the future. Despite a performance by Navi that did leave something to be desired (he clearly had a British accent, doing what I felt was at best an adequate job of representing Michael), I personally feel that it effectively humanizes an individual considered a legend in his own time, and serves as a powerful commentary on the cult of celebrity. For me, MICHAEL JACKSON: SEARCHING FOR NEVERLAND is moving, mesmerizing, and difficult to forget.