MICHAEL JACKSON'S CAPTAIN EO

Years ago, during the summer when Michael Jackson died and the year when I first started out as a film critic writing my reviews on Facebook; I did a review on the only film that starred Michael Jackson (Well, the only film when he was the main focus instead of making a cameo or playing a supporting character in films like "The Wiz", "Men In Black 2" and "Miss Castaway and the Island of Girls") called "Moonwalker". I praised the special effects and the song and dance number but I felt like the film was just nothing but Music Videos mixed into one film and had a plot that's creative but not that good as well as thinking that there were moments that was too violent for kids. I put the film as number 10 on "The Top Ten Movies I Reviewed in 2009" and the films personally one of my favorite Music films of all time and is something I watch in memory of Michael Jackson. As a follow up to that review, I was wondering should I review his Music Videos or should I review "This Is It"? I didn't know what to pick but then all of sudden, I remembered a 3-D movie that use to be shown in the Disney Theme Parks and was re released back into the parks which was actually Michael Jackson's first starring role (Before "Moonwalker" and with the exception of his Music Videos) in a film called...

This film is done by three geniuses and a wonderful creative company, It's written by George Lucas (Who wrote the "Star Wars Trilogy"); Directed by Francis Ford Coppola (Who directed my all time favorite movie "The Godfather" and "The Godfather Part 2"); Produced by the most creative company "Disney"; and stars the king of Pop Michael Jackson. Yes they're all great geniuses and "Disney" is a great company but sadly did terrible things as time went on. George Lucas directed "Howard The Duck" and ruined his "Star Wars" with the prequels and the (Oh boy) Holiday Special; Coppola directed "Jack" and the epic flop "The Godfather Part 3"; and The Disney Company turned their creative studio into a Pre-Teen company filled with talentless actors and performers that are just there for looks and the company rarely make a great movie and usually just make a crappy sequel or spinoffs that just ruins their loving characters. As for Michael Jackson's career he became the creepiest messed up laughing stock and the most hated person from disappointed fans and people who are just creeped out by him in general and listen to what the media tells them. So is this film going to be an epic masterpiece or is it going to be an epic flop? Before I begin, I just want to let you know, I'm not reviewing the 3-D effects because I wasn't at the park to experience the film, I just happened to find the film online. Without further delay ON WITH THE REVIEW.

First off the title "Captain Eo",what a stupid name for our main character. Eo sounds like a lyric that could fit into the children's song "Old Mac Donald". So what's the story? Captain Eo (Michael Jackson) and his crew of imaginary characters go off on a quest in outer space to give a gift to the evil queen (Anjelica Huston) who rules a trashy dark planet.
 

Michael Jackson awesome talent shines just like it does in his Music Videos. When he first appears in the film you get excited and can't wait to see his great dancing and powerful singing voice. However, I'm going to save my thoughts on his singing voice and dancing for when I talk about the climatic dance number and just talk about his acting. His acting is ok, in this film he's not acting like the character, and he’s basically just playing himself. I guess I wouldn't mind it so much except for the fact that he's playing a fictional character. If he's going to play himself why call him Captain Eo instead of calling him Captain Jackson. In fact, why not call this film "The Adventures Of Michael Jackson in 3-D"? At least you know that Michael Jackson is going to be Michael Jackson. I know Michael can act, when I saw him in "The Wiz" as the Scarecrow, I knew it was Michael in a costume but he actually acted like the character instead of acting like himself and as a result made the character believable. 

Anjelica Huston as the Villain is scary. I'm serious, the design and the make up they put on her is actually pretty frightening. Is her performance good? Well she's kind of a bore and looks like they focused more on her design then character. She's basically like Queen Amidala from "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace", has no character, she's just a bore, and feels like George was focusing more on her design. To be fair, the Villain can be threatening at times and can show a good side to her at times but those scenes are very brief and the threatening scenes are once again just her looks and special effects.

A performance I found kind of painful to watch is Dick Shawn as Commander Bog. Dick Shawn is a very clever comedian and plays hilarious roles such as the hippie L.S.D. who plays Hitler in Mel Brook's "The Producers" and Snow Miser in Rankin/Bass's "A Year Without A Santa Clause". When I heard he was going to be in the film, I couldn't wait to see what he's going to do. His performance is nearly the same as Harvey Korman's performance in the "Star Wars Holiday Special" not funny, boring and hard to watch. The only bright side is he's only in the film very briefly.

So far our stars are very boring but what about the creatures that are with Michael Jackson throughout the film? I have good news and bad news. The good news is it's nice to see George Lucas working on a film that's not heavily reliable on CGI; the bad news is the characters are horrible. They look like rejected extras at the famous Alien bar scene in "Star Wars" and kind of look like deformed Muppet's as well. They're annoying, they're obnoxious and look scarier than our Villain. Idey and Ody the double headed navigator and pilot look like Alf's long lost cousins that should stay lost; the robot officer Major Domo and his small robotic friend Minor Domo look like a rejected design of Droids from "Star Wars"; and Hooter the clumsy little elephant has to be the most creepiest and annoying character out of all the creatures on the ship. By the way what's with the name Hooter? It sounds  perverted. The only character I thought was cute was Fuzzball but he sadly looks like a cheap effect that would probably look better in 3-D.

The special effects in the film are alright. They're basically as impressive as the effects in "Moonwalker" but just like the effects in "Moonwalker" they can look cheesy. I will say, I like the special effects in the spaceship chase scene but sadly it's very quick. Is it just me or does the chase scene look similar to the climax in "Star Wars:A New Hope"?  The sets are creative and the designs for the villains slaved henchman are cool but at the same time looks just as corny as the designs for the TV show "Power Rangers".

Now for the scene that this whole film was building up too, the Musical number, is it all worth the wait? That's a yes! After when Michael sweet talks the Villain, his shipmates play a few instruments and Michael begins to dance and sing the song "We Are Here To Change The World". As he's dancing and showing off his oddly colored Tee-Shirt, he uses his magic powers to change all the evil looking people and the plant into a colorful world. The dancing is choreographed good; Michael Jackson's singing is wonderful; the set designs for the changed world is colorful; the costumes are cool; and the special effects for this scene are decent. There were even moments that were thrilling, but that only happens when the Queen constantly tries to stop them with her evil army. Those scenes alone make you nervous and it quickly stops the happiness that's happening. This whole number makes up for all the horrible things that's been going in the previous scenes. This scene looks so cool that I bet that it would look spectacular in 3-D.

 In 1994, the film was replaced with "Honey, I Shrunk The Audience", but lives on video websites and received a cult following. After Michael Jackson's death, "Honey, I Shrunk The Audience" was closed down because people wanted to see "Captain Eo" on the big screen again as a tribute to Michael Jackson's death.

The 3-D film is now back in the Disney Theme parks under the title "Captain Eo Tribute". If I ever go back to the Disney park, I will review it again for the 3-D effects, I will also review the documentary that's shown in the queue area as well. There's also a VHS tape on the making of the film hosted by Whoopi Goldberg which I'll probably review in the future.

So is "Captain Eo" an epic win or an epic bomb? It's an epic bomb. The characters are horrible; the performances are boring; the film's very cliched; and the plot is dumb. The only part of the film that succeeded was the Musical segment and special effects, that's it. To be honest, I think that's the only part these people were focusing on. It's like they knew the story is a bad idea and thought the Musical number was the only thing that was important. They could've just made the Music number but sadly they need to have some kind of excuse to have a 3-D Music video starring Michael Jackson shown at Disney Parks and to do that they needed a story, that way the idea won't be rejected and put on MTV like all of Jackson's videos. Screw the story and just see it for the "We Are Here To Change The World" video.

RATING 2/5