The personal and career trajectory of the late Michael Jackson was undoubtedly riddled with controversy, and you wouldn’t really know it in a first installment of an inevitably two-part motion picture event that squarely builds the entertainer’s brand and origin story. To gain access to this catalogue of legendary popular music means filmmakers make a bit of a Faustian bargain to stay in a lionizing lane. As a glossy spectacle of entertainment, Anton Fuqua’s Michael (B+) absolutely delivers on a chronological coming of age tale of the Jackson 5 child star growing up and asserting his independence from his own overbearing father/manager to claim his own destiny as a solo star with great power and responsibility. Entering the film with skepticism about how it may not adequately plumb the emotional underpinnings of the man or address those aforementioned allegations, I respectfully disagree this telling of the tale is shallow and skin deep. Viewers will better understand the man based on this movie, even if the display of his demons is a bit suppressed in this outing. Fuqua’s confident direction, Jafaar Jackson’s breakthrough performance in the lead and even John Logan’s screenplay all make cogent storytelling sense. Sequential “behind the music” type narratives have fallen out of favor with critics; it’s taken Elvis by way of his manager, The Boss as told through the contents of an arty rather than popular album or even a British superstar played by a CGI monkey to come full circle to “walk hard” into straight-up crowd-pleasing. It’s honestly better produced than Bohemian Rhapsody, which had its own detractors on the way to making nearly a billion dollars, pleasing global fans and garnering Oscars. In this Jacksonverse, Colman Domingo and Nia Long are wonderful as MJ’s parents, a yin and yang of control and encouragement. KeiLyn Durrel Jones is the supporting cast VIP as Bill Bray, the singer’s quiet and understated security guard who seems to see the star without the gaze. Dion Beebe’s propulsive cinematography and Barbara Ling’s handsome production design across several decades keeps the story moving and engaging. Regardless of what happens in the follow-up, this film is a feel-good fairy tale. The greatest hits musical sequences are a joy and left our movie auditorium blissfully rewarded. A few bloated moments and trite assertions can’t puncture this opus or stunt the rein of the King of Pop. That coming sequel may indeed introduce a “wicked” set of second-act side-stepping, but the biopic we just got here in 2026 is a thriller.