



What an amazing show it would have been! Michael oversees every aspect of the production with his Director Kenny Ortega. From the arrangements to the choreography to the CGI to the production, he's right in there mixing it up. He seems very clear on what he wants, and his starstruck staff is more than eager to give it to him. Even the most hardened pros are shown as calling working with Michael the Living Legend a "pinnacle."
The Michael shown in the movie is suprisingly vital; nowhere near his real age of 50. His singing and dancing abilities are remarkably intact. And yet Michael seems frail in the movie - certainly not strong enough to make it through fifty - yes fifty! - sold-out performances of this very physically demanding show.
But in the end, Michael died before the show could go on and the vision went unrealized. AEG had spent gobs of money on the pre-production and they had to recoup their losses somehow - so we get "This is It." If the concert had actually happened, this "behind the scenes" rehearsal footage would have been the first fifteen minutes of the movie, tops. What we wind up with is a whole lot of appetizer and no main course, so we walk away from the table unsatisfied.
Ultimately "This is It" is unsatisfying in the same way as a posthumous Hendrix release - showing flashes of genius but in the end, unfulfilling; a maddening tease. "This is It" is saddening in the imagining of what could have been Michael's greatest triumph, and the knowledge that the artist is no longer here to complete it.