Reviewed by maroon5gurl88 on Fri October 30, 2009

There's no denying Michael Jackson will forever be the King of Pop. But it's hard to watch a movie showing his final concert footage which feeling that there was so much more the man could have done with his life. This Is It is a wonderful concert film detailing all the backstage happenings that go on with producing an epic Michael Jackson concert, and fans of his music will enjoy every second, just expect not to learn anything intimate about the man himself or his untimely passing.

This Is It follows the day-to-day struggles of setting up the massive, final Michael Jackson concert at the O2 arena in London. While performing his legacy of hits, fans will be allowed to see footage of director Kenny Ortega filming segments that would have played in the background of the show, organize choreography, and hear Jackson riffing with his fellow band mates. There's also small segments of background dancers and performers discussing what it's like to be a member of Jackson's team.

Even if you're not a die-hard fan of Jackson and his work, this is an entertaining film. Jackson wanted to perform songs fans wanted, so whether you're a beginner or a devout fan of the artist you'll hear all his major hits in the span of two-hours, ranging from Billie Jean and Thriller to Human Nature and The Way You Make Me Feel. There's no denying if this concert had been performed to an audience, in a finished format, that it would have been spectacular. Jackson was planning to use pyrotechnics, film clips, anything to make fans say “wow.” The movie emphasizes this by showing how certain film clips were created, including a very entertaining segment that would have had Jackson spliced into clips with Rita Hayworth and Humphrey Bogart. This footage is seamlessly integrated to footage of him rehearsing said numbers. When the movie switches to HD footage, more towards the end of the rehearsals, everything is shown off as rich and prepared. Jackson himself seemed excited to performing these shows and gives the performances his all by singing live and doing choreography full-out, even though he didn't have to. The man's work ethic was fantastic and it's bittersweet to see him go over numbers again and again to deliver 110% to the people who would have been paying to see this. If anything this movie is perfect for the Michael Jackson appreciators who would never have been able to get to London. It's been said this film would have come out, finished obviously, once Jackson set out to do these shows, so that fans all over the world could have seen the final concert. The small segments with various backup singers and background dancers add another layer to the performer as the group he picked as so thankful to be performing there and with such an enigmatic artist.

The movie is highly sugarcoated and doesn't ever touch on his untimely passing as something that could have been prevented. Anyone whose been following the news coverage on Jackson's death will be highly frustrated since there are moments where Jackson looks tired and incredibly skinny. This is further compounded by how whipped director Kenny Ortega comes off, endlessly bending over backwards to keep Jackson happy and working. At two hours the movie suffers as every single song is gone through and ends abruptly making you feel a bit cold. Considering 100 hours of video was shot and there's a camera at every juncture it's difficult to understand why there's no interviews or footage with Jackson not performing. There's several discussions with the crew mentioned above, but not a single sound bite from Jackson himself discussing the concert aside from recycled news footage at the beginning. Even the sound bites from the crew are abandoned towards the end and are very short. For a movie that was meant to document putting this show on, it's highly suspect that the principal player was never talked to by the crew.

If you're a Jackson fan you've probably got your tickets or have seen this already. For casual fans or people who enjoy documentaries on the entertainment business, this is certainly a unique and fascinating look at one of music's biggest legends. Just don't expect anything too intimate, any interviews with Jackson, or anything even remotely referencing his unfortunate passing. This Is It gets a 3.5/5.