The early life of musician Michael Jackson, from the discovery of his talent as the lead of the Jackson Five to the artist whose creative ambition fueled a pursuit to become the biggest entertainer in the world. (from IMDB)

Musical biopics are all the rage these days. It seems like, at every turn, if it's not horror or superheroes, it's a musical biopic. Just recently, we had Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere and Song Sung Blue, not to mention live concert events on the big screen from Taylor Swift, twenty one pilots and Billie Eilish, to name a few. This spring brings us the early life of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, with the simply titled, Michael.

Michael comes to life through Jackson's own real-life nephew, Jaafar Jackson, stepping into his dancing shoes. The late-twenties actual relative of the King of Pop does an incredible job portraying the superstar on the big screen. Jaafar studied intensely to capture the singer's voice and mannerisms, and the end result is quite a marvel. Director Antoine Fuqua also clearly takes great care in the production, working closely with the Jackson estate to try to do the beloved artist justice in a feature film. While much controversy surrounded Michael throughout his time on this earth, Michael dwells mostly on the positives -- aside from his controlling father, Joseph's, heavy hand in Jackson's life. And since much of Michael deals with his rise to fame from his bright beginnings with The Jackson 5, the story only goes into the late 80's when Michael continues his rise to superstardom. Because of this, there's already talk of a sequel to this film to continue Michael's story (and I imagine it'd probably be a lot sadder than this one).

From the beginning, we see an 8-year-old Michael Jackson getting his start in his family's living room in 1966. It's a pretty bleak beginning, too, when you see how Joseph would often whip Michael with a belt to punish him if he wasn't quite doing just as Joe instructed. Michael had a loving relationship with his mother, Katherine, but she wasn't able to keep him safe from Joe's abuse. Joe also was very controlling of Michael's career, and so his father served as kind of a villain for this first story. There's no romantic subplot; the main source of conflict in the film is the toxic father/son dynamic. I would have liked to have seen a little more of the relationship between Michael and his brothers - they're pretty much background characters here - but the story really focuses strongly on how talented Michael was from the start, and how the only thing that seemed to really hold him back was his own father.

Jaafar's performance is simply incredible. It never really feels like Jaafar is struggling to act like Michael; Jaafar is Michael. I personally never followed Michael Jackson's career too closely. The singer's first solo record(s) released before I even made my debut on this planet, so I didn't really start truly being aware of his music till after Thriller was out for a while. 1987's Bad may have been his first new album I was readily aware of, too. As I got older, and Michael's illustrious career continued, my focus steered towards the Christian music world, so my attention was rarely ever on what Michael was up to. However, as I've gotten older, his 80's hits never stopped sounding awesome (while definitely carrying that heavy dose of nostalgia), and seeing a film like this only helps me appreciate the dancing hitmaker even more.

Jaafar playes Michael with great charisma and charm. Jaafar's Michael is humble and gentle, and, especially when he makes a few comments in the film about his faith and listening to God's direction and calling, it's much easier to root for this massive young talent. Aspects of the film feel familiar to so many other musical biopics, particularly the complicated dealings with label and management, as well as studio recording sessions, so movies like Bohemian Rhapsody, Elvis, and the aforementioned Springsteen film kept coming to mind. I imagine it's hard to make those scenes feel fresh or unique, but Michael is never not interesting. Seeing him get his start so young, and seeing how some of his songs took shape, really pulled me in to his story. He's also a bit of a loner who just wanted to make music, but then he clearly started chasing stardom and fame despite that.

The rest of the cast is fantastic, too. Nia Long is wonderful as his mother, Katherine; Colman Domingo proves super versatile as the menacing Joseph Jackson (while playing such a sweet character in Disclosure Day); Miles Teller is great as Michael's manager, John Branca; KeiLyn Durrel Jones is just lovable as Michael's righthand man, Bill Bray; Juliano Valdi is a dynamo as a little young Michael; and Mike Myers steals the scene as CBS Records label exec, Walter Yetnikoff. And the music in the film is just as fantastic. They use Jaafar's singing mixed with Michael's real voice to bring an element of authenticity to the film. However they did it, it works.

The content for Michael could probably be considered as mostly family friendly, if it's for an older family audience (like teens). The physical abuse from Joseph Jackson is portrayed tastefully, and is mostly only implied after the first time it's shown exhibited toward a young Michael. There is no sexual content of any kind, with the exception of Michael's sensual moves and pelvic-thrust dances (and a suggestive joke between two of his brothers). I suppose that depends on how the viewer inteprets Michael's dance moves. There is some profanity scattered throughout the film, but it isn't constant and it isn't pervasive. Most of it is from Joe or miscellaneous side characters. And while faith isn't a big part of the story, Michael mentions God several times, and at one point, while being teased by his brothers for being quiet, says he's listening for God to give him song ideas. Another scene in a hospital has Michael saying he feels like God has a purpose for his life. Speaking of the hospital, there is a scene that recreates Michael's hair catching on fire during the infamous filming of a Pepsi commercial, so we see some burns and scars on the back of his head in a mirror. We then see some other patients in a hospital burn unit, with one of them especially being covered in brutal, slightly bloody scars and wounds.

Michael is a biopic that really took me by surprise. It's very well done, encouraging, and a surprisingly feel-good film, despite the sometimes intense themes involving his father's heavy hand. Jaafar Jackson's performance as Michael is a revelation, and although the later part of Michael's life may be rougher to show on screen, I'm still interested to see where a "Part Two" might take us.

Michael is available now on disc and at digital retailers (and is a Movies Anywhere-compatible title). The movie looks really fantastic in digital 4K, too. The color is vibrant and the high definition is so crisp! Including an hour-long making-of feature are the following extras:

Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough: The Making of Michael (59:49) - In this extensive making-of feature, the producers talk about following up Bohemian Rhapsody with wanting to make this story of Michael Jackson. After a lunch with original Jackson 5 member, Jermaine Jackson, and his son Jaafar, producer Graham King knew Jaafar would be perfect for the role. Jaafar then worked with an acting coach and choreographers to prepare him for the film. After a week, they didn't think he could do it, but after 3 weeks, they realized he could do it. He ended up spending two years to prepare for this role. This is a great behind-the-scenes segment that proves the film was a labor of love.

Home is Where the Heart is: Behind the Gates of Hayvenhurst (5:36) - Jaafar Jackson hosts a little tour of the Jackson home in Hayvenhurst. I actually didn't realize they really filmed at some of the real locations, which knowing that just adds to the authenticity of the film. We find out they filmed in the real room for where the album Thriller was made, and we see Jaafar practicing his dance moves in the house's dining room.

First Look (2:09) - In this short, almost promo-like video, director Antoine Fuqua talks about Jaafar and his dedication to the role.

Becoming Michael (1:53) - Antoine and Jaafar talk about how the young performer practiced dancing constantly - even to the point where his feet would bleed!

Before the Big Screen (1:49) talks about how the real Michael was larger than life, and Jaafar recalls seeing him perform back in the day.

On the set of Michael (2:39) - Original touring bandmembers witness filming the live concert scenes and marvel at Jaafar recreating Michael on stage. Even Michael's son, Paris Jackson, was in awe.

Rehearsing History: Motown 25 (4:32) - Antoine and Jaafar talk about recreating this iconic performance, and choreographers working with Jaafar to help him recreate it.

In the mirror: becoming Michael & Joe time-lapses (3:40) [Play All]

1. Billie Jean (0:51) - Makeup Designer Bill Corso talks about each of these looks, and how, for the "Billie Jean" Motown 25 performance, he worked on emphasizing Jaafar's jawline to look more like Michael's.
2. Thriller (1:07) - Corso talks about putting makeup on top of makeup for the "Thriller" music video's zombie-Michael. And he tried to match it as close as possible to the original makeup used in the original video, down to the types of makeup they used back then.
3. Off the Wall (1:01) is all about making Jaafar have the wider nose from Michael's younger days before the first nose job.
4. Joe Jackson (0:42) - Colman and Joe are apparently vastly different looking people, but Corso wanted to try to push Colman's look closer to Joe's. (1 "Oh my G-d")