The trailer to the upcoming Michael Jackson concert film This is It premiered last night during the MTV Video Music Awards, and frankly, it's a little hard to know how to feel about the clip without Madonna first telling us her own reactions. Still, there's two-and-a-half minutes of footage here of something that had been unglimpsed and speculated about for weeks. What do we see?
Dancing, and lots of it. Kenny Ortega's film, assembled from hours of backstage footage, leans heavily on the dance rehearsals; if there's any footage of Jackson actually singing (unlikely, as he hadn't sang live in recent years), it hasn't made it into the trailer. In between the dance numbers, there are testimonials to Jackson's spirit, a few lines from Jackson himself that run the gamut from woozy to crystal-clear, and what looks to be a CG trip into the Avatar jungle.
Will it all come together as a film, or will it ultimately feels like a behind-the-scenes special feature on a Michael Jackson DVD? I suppose we won't know until they actually start showing the thing, though I'll admit that a simple shot of Darryl Phinnessee doing his runs would have sold me immediately. I'm easy!
VERDICT: We'll see.