"Michael"
Jaafar Jackson is the spitting image of his King of Pop uncle in “Michael,” from Lionsgate Films

"Michael"

Jaafar Jackson vividly channels his uncle as a performer, but MJ the man in all his complications eludes him and the movie.

By Peter Travers

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★★ (2 out of 4)

This sugarcoated and sanctified biopic sees the late Michael Jackson as a creative musical genius with a terminal case of arrested development. Look for more at your peril from “Michael,” an insight-free gloss on a life of byzantine complexity from which the Jackson estate has vacuumed out anything raw, relatable and scandal adjacent. The long-running Broadway musical, “MJ,” does the same. With Michael, big brother is always watching the bank.