So, here it is. The Michael Jackson behind-the-scenes documentary This Is It has officially hit movie theaters nationwide for its much anticipated two-week run. If last night's sold-out midnight audiences are any indication, the film will undoubtedly smash quite a few box office records for the year in its first weekend. The reviews are pouring in steadily (sort of like today's NYC rain) and most are positive, calling the movie "triumphant" and and a "fitting tribute" to the King of Pop. Personally, I can't wait to see it myself (which will probably be on DVD since I didn't secure a theater ticket). However, until then, check after the bounce for a collection of the early reviews (including one from MJ's close friend Elizabeth Taylor). And then let us know if/when you plan on checking it out for yourself.
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Vancouver Sun: "Serving as an ethereal signal delay, this cobbled-together rehearsal footage brings the echoing presence of Jackson back into his body, and back on stage, where we came to know and love the man as a gifted performer and a musical genius... More than anything, though, it's all about the way it makes you feel. This Is It takes the viewer on a highly charged and incredibly human emotional voyage because it's the most unmediated footage of Jackson we've ever seen."
The Wall Street Journal: "The saving grace of Michael Jackson's swan song This Is It, a grab-bag of rehearsal footage, on-camera interviews and backstage moments captured on the fly, is that its contents were never intended as a film... The consolation is that the footage in This Is it, much of it shot on single, relatively static cameras, offers a fair idea of how the shows might have looked."
Entertainment Weekly: "This Is It is not in any way ghoulish. It has now been established that when Jackson died, he was, physically speaking, a relatively healthy man. And so we're spared the macabre spectacle of combing the movie for any literal signs that he was knocking at death's door. It should also be said, though, that in This Is It, Jackson shows no telltale signs of a broken spirit, either. From the moment he takes the stage, he's loose, robust, and in control."
USA Today: "But if This Is It doesn't miraculously restore the middle-aged Jackson to his past glory, it at least offers glimpses of his bygone greatness, and poignant suggestions of what might have been."
Elizabeth Taylor (via Twitter): "You owe it to yourselves and your loves ones to see this again and again. Memorize it and say to yourselves, 'I saw genius in my lifetime'."
