Moonwalker
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- For other uses of the term "moonwalk", see moonwalk.
Moonwalker, also known as Michael Jackson: Moonwalker, was a movie released in 1988 by singer Michael Jackson. Rather than featuring one continuous narrative, the film is a collection of short films about the entertainer, several of which are long form music videos from Jackson's Bad album.
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Original release
Moonwalker was originally released to co-incide with Jackson's 1987 album, Bad. During the cinema release for Moonwalker, Jackson was also embarking on a world tour.
Plot
The movie consists of several segments, including (in chronological order):
Man in the Mirror
The music video to Jackson's song Man in the Mirror acts as the opening segment to the film. This short film features a montage of clips of children from Africa, Martin Luther King, and other historical figures.
Jackson's biography
A short biographical film about Jackson, covering from his birth, to the release of the Bad album.
Badder
A parody of the music video for Bad's title song, featuring children filling the roles of various people in the original clip.
Speed Bunny
The Badder clip moves into a second short film, referred to as 'Speed Bunny', that makes extensive use of Claymation techniques, and acts as the music video to the song Speed Demon. In the film, Michael, in an attempt to avoid overzealous fans, disguises himself as a rabbit(named Spike), but ends up taunting the fans into chasing him. During the chase, he morphs into other celebrities, including Sylvester Stallone and Pee-Wee Herman. After finally losing the fans, he removes the costume, which comes to life and dances with him. In the end, a policeman tells him he is in a "No Moonwalking Zone", and just as jackson was expecting a ticket, the officer was also a fan and ironically, asked him for his autograph!
Leave Me Alone
The fifth segment of the film is the short film for the song Leave me alone, and features an animated music video focusing on media interest in Jackson's life.
Smooth Criminal
The main segment of the film centers around the song Smooth Criminal, where Jackson is a 1930's style gangster, with the 'power' to morph into a spaceship, or a futuristic car. This long form version of the music video includes the "Smooth Criminal" short form clip, where Jackson dances through a 1930s style New Orleans jazz club. The antagonist is "Mr.Big" Frankie Lideo played by Joe Pesci with an entire SWAT-like foot soldier army of heavily-armored black-clad henchmen who have Michael outnumbered and outgunned. The supporting characters are three children; one named Katie who was captured by Lideo's stormtroopers and almost became a test subject for his new drug.
Come Together
The film closes with Jackson performing a cover of The Beatles' song Come Together - it must not be a coincidence that one of the child actors in this movie is John Lennon's son, Sean.
Arcade game
Moonwalker was developed into an arcade and video game by company Sega. The home version of the game was released for Sega's Genesis/Mega Drive and Master System home video game systems. The games involved the player controlling the pop star in a quest to save children that had been kidnapped by an evil gangster.
The game's levels and music were borrowed from the music video and the player had the ability to destroy enemies by making them dance. A sequel was planned, but after the accusations that Jackson molested children in 1993 Sega did not feel it was appropriate to have a game where the pop star saved children.
External links
- Template:Imdb title
- KLOV entry for Moonwalker (arcade game) (http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?game_id=8686)