This Is It....(ain't that the truth)

So, there is at least one thing that can be said about Michael Jackson that was true throughout his career: he really can sing. Unfortunately, the most recent of Michael's productions showed us all that even if he were not to have passed away this summer, that this tour really would have been it. He just can't quite move in those ways that made young girls blush like he used to. Don't get me wrong, he can still dance better than most anyone, but compared to Michael in his prime, he just didn't quite have it. I also think he stole a move from me: the one where you face your palm up and quiver your fingers while raising your forearm up and down very quickly. Yeah, that's all me.
However, that is not what really bugged me about this movie. The dancing and singing were actually very good. It was the rest of the movie that I found to be a tad dreary and tiresome. This Is It is essentially a glorified The Making of the Video, and by glorified, I mean extra long. It just dragged on and on and never really showed anything. There was no drama, no character development, nothing to make me want to see what was going to happen next. The movie opened with short quips from each of the selected dancers, leading the viewer to believe that maybe we would follow them through their trials and tribulations of working with Jacko. Did that happen? No. Consider this viewer disappointed. All we got to see was Mike and on stage cohort practice for the shows they had been planning to put on in London. Exciting? Hardly.
There were, however, some memorable instances from the film. Michael himself has some great one-liners: "I love trees;" or "Let it simmer. Bathe in the moonlight;" or how about "It has to sound like you're dragging yourself out of bed." Gems I say. It also made me ponder a something. There is a scene where a little girl is in a lovely forest and a bunch of butterflies flutter by her, and it made me wonder: Do you think the were originally called flutterbyes but some dyslexic fellow got it mixed up and started calling them butterflies? Think about it. It makes a lot of sense to me.
I will also say that, despite his funny little voice, Michael does say some good things about climate change, which is definitely a pressing issue here in the Marshall Islands. Just recently I heard there is supposed to be an abnormally high hightide on January 31, 2010. The water level is supposed to reach a level even with the surrounding land. This does not take into account any wave action, which means if there happens to be a storm or high winds coinciding with this period, the islands will face serious damage. Many of these "developed" nations do not realize the impact that their decisions have on low-lying island nations. Even a small rise in sea level can have devastating consequences on an entire nation where the highest point is only 5 meters above sea level. Even at current levels, it will be long before certain nations will no longer be habitable because the salt water destroys the land and pollutes the water. Michael Jackson knew these things were problems.
There really isn't much else to say about this film except that I wish there would have been a bit more of Light-Man. He looked awesome. Oh, and that my fellow reviewer Grease slept through more than a small amount of it and entertained us all with his snores. Yeah, that's how good it was. Stay tuned for next week's review of either The Box or Astro Boy. I can't wait.