MICHAEL Is Beautifully Performed — but It Stops Short of the Harder Questions
A spectacular performance and an inspiring rise to superstardom can’t completely hide the darker chapters this Michael Jackson story chooses to leave out.
Credit: TMDB / promotional artwork
Promotional artwork
themoviedb.org
If you’ve been trying out Kazoo Mode and happen to have a STARZ subscription, you might have noticed that MICHAEL landed on the service this week. It started streaming on STARZ on August 10.
MICHAEL is, of course, the story of Michael Jackson. But after watching it, I’m not sure I’d accurately describe it as a biopic.
Because it’s not really about Michael Jackson’s life.
It’s about his rise.
We meet Michael as an abused little boy with an unbelievable amount of talent, watch him grow up in front of the world, break away from his family, find his own identity and eventually become the biggest pop star on the planet. The movie takes us from the Jackson 5 through Michael’s transformation into a global phenomenon, essentially wrapping things up around the Bad era in 1988.
And I completely understand why they did it this way.
Because Michael gets to end his story in glory.
The whole world loves him. He’s conquered music. He’s filling stadiums. He’s Michael fucking Jackson.
Roll credits.
And if you stop the story there, MICHAEL is actually a pretty inspiring movie.
That’s also the problem.
The Two Michaels Are Incredible
First, I have to give credit where it’s absolutely deserved: Juliano Krue Valdi and Jaafar Jackson both killed it as Michael.
Valdi gets the childhood years, while Michael’s nephew Jaafar takes over as the adult Michael. And once Jaafar becomes the Michael Jackson that most of us recognize (the voice, the movements, the mannerisms, the face,) I was genuinely mesmerized.
Especially once Michael goes through that infamous physical transformation and we get into the version of him that became almost otherworldly.
There were moments where I wasn’t thinking about an actor playing Michael Jackson anymore.
I was just watching Michael Jackson.
And the rest of the cast is damn good too.
Colman Domingo is fantastic as Joe Jackson, and even smaller appearances, like Deon Cole showing up as Don King, feel weirdly convincing.
The performances are one of the biggest reasons this movie works as well as it does.
Credit: TMDB / promotional artwork
Promotional artwork
themoviedb.org
And Then the Movie Started Making Me Feel Good
Here’s where things got complicated for me.
This is basically the story of a sad, abused little boy becoming a star and becoming a man at the same time.
And it worked.
I felt inspired.
I felt happy for Michael.
There were moments where the movie genuinely made me feel like I was watching this damaged kid overcome everything that had been done to him and somehow turn it into something beautiful.
And then I realized:
That might be exactly why this movie almost got an EH from KazooWatch.
Because it started to feel disingenuous.
The film doesn’t just celebrate Michael Jackson’s talent. At times it practically turns him into this wounded, gentle, almost divine Saint Michel figure whose sensitivity and love can heal the people around him.
And that’s where I have a problem.
I know it’s controversial to say anything negative about Michael Jackson’s legacy. People understandably love the music. I love plenty of the music.
But you can’t make a movie presenting him as some near-divine protector and healer of children while pretending the enormously complicated reality surrounding Michael Jackson and children simply doesn’t exist.
Jackson faced a criminal trial over child-molestation allegations in 2005 and was acquitted on every count. That matters and should absolutely be acknowledged. But it is also true that Jackson publicly defended sleeping alongside children who were not his own, and serious allegations followed him for decades.
None of that means MICHAEL had to hold a trial in the middle of the movie.
But ignoring all of it while presenting Michael’s relationship with children as evidence of his almost supernatural goodness?
That’s a choice.
Maybe MICHAEL 2 Changes Everything
Now, there is one giant caveat.
This movie deliberately stops before the darkest and most controversial chapters of Michael Jackson’s life.
And there has already been talk of continuing the story.
If that sequel actually happens, and if the filmmakers are willing to go where this movie refuses to, then MICHAEL 2 is going to be a very different movie.
Credit: TMDB / promotional artwork
Promotional artwork
themoviedb.org
Because there is no way to continue this story honestly while maintaining the fairy tale.
The first movie gets Michael Jackson becoming Michael Jackson.
The next chapter would have to deal with what happened after the entire world fell in love with him.
And frankly?
That’s the more interesting story.
KazooWatch Verdict: PRETTY GOOD
For all my problems with what MICHAEL chooses not to show, I can’t pretend I didn’t enjoy watching it.
The performances are spectacular. The music works. The recreations work. Jaafar Jackson’s transformation into his uncle is sometimes absolutely uncanny.
It is entertaining.
It is emotional.
It is inspiring.
And maybe that’s exactly what makes its refusal to wrestle with the full Michael Jackson story so frustrating.
MICHAEL gives you the legend.
It gives you the abused kid.
It gives you the genius.
It gives you the superstar.
It gives you Saint Michael.
It just rolls the credits before things get complicated.
KazooWatch Verdict: PRETTY GOOD
It’s absolutely worth seeing.
Just don’t go into MICHAEL expecting to learn much about what happened after 1988.
Because that’s when the really interesting Michael Jackson story begins.
OFFICIAL TRAILER- Michael (2026)
Credit: Universal Pictures
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