Friendship At The Movies - Michael Jackson Moonwalker

Friendship At The Movies: Michael Jackson Moonwalker is a Friendship At The Movies Series by 4Kids Entertainment, Jim Henson Productions, Deluxe Digital Studios, Viz Video, Macrovision, and WGBH Boston on DVD.

Plot
Rather than featuring one continuous narrative, the film is a collection of short films about Jackson, several of which are long-form  music videos  from Jackson's  Bad   album. The film is named after the dance technique known as the  moonwalk, which was one of his trademark moves. The name of the dance move was dubbed by the media, not by Jackson himself; however, he did choose the title of the film himself. Moonwalker  was a success at the box office, making a total of $67,000,000 worldwide. The release of  Moonwalker  was originally scheduled to coincide with Jackson's 1987 album,  Bad. During the  theatrical  release of  Moonwalker, Jackson was also embarking on the  Bad  world tour, his first tour as a solo performer. The film was released theatrically in Europe and South America, but  Warner Bros. canceled plans for a Christmas 1988 theatrical release in the U.S. Moonwalker  was released on home video in the United States and Canada on January 10, 1989, just as the Bad tour finished. (His tour was supposed to finish sooner, but had been postponed due to some vocal strain, so it went on until the last week of January 1989.) The video had sold more than 800,000 copies in the U.S. by April 17, 1989.

"Man in the Mirror"
The first segment of Moonwalker is a live performance of "Man in the Mirror" during his  Bad Tour  in Europe clips from  Wembley Stadium  among others can be seen. It also features a montage of clips of children in  Africa ,  Martin Luther King Jr. ,  Mother Teresa ,  Mahatma Gandhi ,  John Lennon, other historical figures and all kids shows crossver.

"Retrospective"
A short biographical film about Jackson, covering the early years from the Jackson 5 until the Bad world tour and kids crossover. Excerpts of the following songs are played:
 * "Music and Me"
 * "I Want You Back"
 * "ABC" (designed by David Daniels)
 * "The Love You Save"
 * "2-4-6-8"
 * "Who's Lovin' You"
 * "Ben"
 * "Dancing Machine"
 * "Blame It on the Boogie"
 * "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)"
 * "Rock with You"
 * "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough"
 * "Can You Feel It"
 * "Human Nature"
 * "Beat It"
 * "Thriller"
 * "Billie Jean"
 * "State of Shock"
 * "We Are the World"
 * "The Way You Make Me Feel"
 * "Dirty Diana"

"Badder"
A parody of the music video for Bad's title song, featuring children filling the roles of various people from kids crossover.

The video stars Brandon Quintin Adams, who would later star in The Mighty Ducks, as the young Michael Jackson. It also featured Jermaine La Jaune Jackson, Jr. (Michael's nephew) and a young Nikki Cox, who later starred in Unhappily Ever After and Las Vegas. The singing group The Boys appeared as background dancers. Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog co-writer Maurissa Tancharoen, as well as future R&B star Bilal Oliver, are also featured in this segment.

"Speed Demon"
The fourth segment begins with the "Badder" short film transitioning into the second short film, "Speed Demon", directed by Claymation innovator Will Vinton. A portion of kids crossover is set to Jackson's song "Speed Demon".

After filming "Badder", Little Michael and his bodyguards (also young kids) are leaving the set and walk through a cloud of smoke and come out as their regular age. A boy and his grandmother spot Michael and prompts the other tourists to get off the bus and chase him for an autograph. In an attempt to avoid the overzealous fans (even The Noid) and some gunslingers (after stumbling upon the filming of a Western directed by Steven Spielberg), Jackson soon disguises himself as a rabbit named Spike, but ends up taunting the fans into chasing him once they realize it's him. During the chase, he morphs into other celebrities, namely Sylvester Stallone, Tina Turner and Pee-Wee Herman. After a long chase, the fans are finally pulled over by a cop and are arrested. After finally losing the fans, he pulls over in a canyon and removes the costume, which comes to life and challenges him to a dance-off.

In the end, a traffic cop tells him he is in a "No Dancing Zone", and when Michael turns to point to the rabbit, he sees that the rabbit has disappeared. The cop then sarcastically asks for Michael's autograph (as opposed to "signature") on the ticket. Just as Michael is preparing to leave, the rabbit's head materializes in a nearby rocky crag, who then nods to him and smiles.

"Leave Me Alone"
The fifth segment of the film is the  animated  music video for the song " Leave Me Alone ", focusing on media interest in Jackson's  personal life, because he had felt that people wouldn't leave him alone. It compares Michael Jackson's life to an amusement park. His beloved then-pet  chimp   Bubbles  makes a cameo appearance as Jackson is seen picking him up and riding with him in his roller coaster car. His pet snake, Muscles, is also present.

"Smooth Criminal"
The sixth segment of the film begins with three homeless children sneaking through a big city to see their friend Michael walk out of his apartment. As Michael stands in front of the door, he gazes at the night sky before he is attacked by mobsters with machine guns. The film then backtracks to show Michael and the children playing in a meadow in happier times. Their dog Skipper runs away, and as Michael and Katie look for him, they uncover the cottage of Mr. Big. Mr. Big is a drug-dealing warlord with a disciplined private army of soldiers at his command; he wants to get the entire population of Earth addicted to drugs, starting with children. He likes to eat nuts and leaves nutshells wherever he goes, and is obsessed with spiders (as displayed by their abundance at the entrance to his lair), and calls his operation "bugs and drugs". He also has them engulfing a model globe when making a speech about his burgeoning drug empire. The spiders signify the spread of his proposed control of the world via drug dealing. Further, all his henchmen sport a spider crest on their uniforms. Katie screams when she sees a spider, and Mr. Big discovers them spying on his operation.

The story returns to the shooting in front of Michael's store. Unknown to the gangsters, Michael has a "lucky star", and using it, he escaped the gunfire. Upon realizing that Michael has escaped again, Mr. Big orders his henchmen to track him down with dogs. He is eventually cornered in an alley, where he uses his lucky star again to turn into a sportscar (the 1970 Lancia Stratos HF Zero prototype) that mows down several of Mr. Big's henchmen. Michael is pursued through the city streets until he loses the henchmen. Meanwhile, the children scout out Club 30's, where Michael had told them to meet him, and find only an abandoned and haunted nightclub. As Michael arrives, Katie sees a silhouette of him turning back from a car into himself. The door of the club opens with a gust of wind, and Michael walks in to find it filled with zoot suiters and swing dancers. The children gather outside a window of the club and watch Michael dance to "Smooth Criminal".

The song used in the film is much longer than the album release, with several lyrics that clarify the story. There is also an interlude wherein Jackson joins the other dancers in a modern interpretive dance. At the climax of the song, Mr. Big lays siege to the club and kidnaps Katie. Michael follows them back to Big's lair and ends up surrounded by his henchmen. Mr. Big appears and taunts Michael by threatening to inject Katie with highly addictive narcotics. Katie breaks free for a moment, but Mr. Big grabs her again and starts kicking Michael. As Mr. Big stands over Michael and orders his henchmen to kill him and Katie, Michael looks up and sees his lucky star. He transforms into a giant robot and kills all of Mr. Big's soldiers, then turns into a spaceship. Mr. Big gets into a large hillside-mounted energy cannon, firing on the spaceship into a nearby ravine. The children are his next target, but the spaceship returns from the ravine just in time to fire a beam in the cannon with Mr. Big inside, killing him. The children watch the ship fly into the night sky with shower of light.

Note: A 4:36 suite of Bruce Broughton's score for this segment (Broughton also wrote the underscore for "Speed Demon") was recorded by Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops for the album Fantastic Journey, representing the only (officially) released music from this film by an artist other than Michael Jackson, although bootlegs are available of the score.

"Come Together"
In the conclusion to "Smooth Criminal", Sean, Katie and Zeke return to the city, believing that Michael is gone forever. As the boys talk about Michael, Katie walks away crying and clutching a paper star. As she sits in a corner wishing for him to come back, the paper star flies out of her hand and Michael walks out of the night fog. He takes them to Club 30's, where they find that the club has turned into the backstage area of a concert. Michael's stage crew return the children's missing dog and then escort Michael onto the stage where he performs a cover of  The Beatles  song " Come Together " with the children watching and cheering him on from backstage. Jackson's version of the song wasn't officially released until 1995 when it appeared on the album  HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I.

Closing credits
During the closing credits, two more segments are shown. The first has  Ladysmith Black Mambazo  performing "The Moon is Walking" in Club 30's amidst behind-the-scenes clips and kids crossovers. The second is the four-minute version of the " Smooth Criminal " music video clollection.

Contents

 * 1) FBI Warning
 * 2) 4Kids Entertainment, Jim Hensons Productions, Deluxe Digital Studios, Viz Video, & Macrovision logos
 * 3) The Wonderful World of Wee Sing (DVD Trailers)
 * 4) Now Available to Own on Video & DVD (Winnie The Pooh Variant)
 * 5) Barney Videos Promo (NEW) UK VHS
 * 6) Miss Pattycake Sing A Long Fun Pack Promo
 * 7) The Adventures of Pete & Pete: Classic Pete - Nickelodeon
 * 8) Nickelodeon VHS & DVD trailer
 * 9) DVD Menu
 * 10) WGBH Boston TV Logo
 * 11) Friendship At The Movies Intro (Don't Forget To Watch The Movies {1996 Sesame Street policy trailer} )
 * 12) Moonwalker (Michael Jackson) - Parts 1,2,3,4,5 and 6
 * 13) End Credits
 * 14) Deluxe Digital Studios DVD logo
 * 15) Macrovision logo 1990s (DVD version) HQ/HD