Michael Jackson movie gets early Rotten Tomatoes score revealed following first wave of reviews

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Early reviews are in for the Michael Jackson biopic, Michael, and critics generally aren’t impressed.

The movie faced many hurdles before its release, including delays, reshoots, and significant changes to the script – even while it was being filmed – to address some sensitive content.

The film seems to be a fairly standard biographical movie, and early reviews haven’t been great. As of now, it has a 33% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 64 reviews, and that number is still changing.

In a two-star review for TopMob, Terry Staunton described the film as exhausting, criticizing its simple and repetitive plot and Michael’s dialogue, which he felt became nonsensical and overly dramatic.

Peter Bradshaw from The Guardian also gave the film a negative review, awarding it two stars and describing it as a collection of predictable music-movie clichés lasting over two hours.

Both Clarisse Loughrey of The Independent and Nicholas Barber of the BBC strongly criticized the film. Loughrey called it a cynical and empty attempt to make money, while Barber described it as a dull and poorly made television movie.

Okay, so the Michael Jackson biopic didn’t get universally panned, thankfully. Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, two big industry publications, actually gave it pretty positive reviews, which was a relief to see.

Owen Gleiberman of Variety described the film as a surprisingly good, though fairly standard, biopic. David Rooney from The Hollywood Reporter agreed, noting it was more emotionally resonant than anticipated.

If praising the film feels backhanded, that’s because the few positive reviews it has received so far aren’t very enthusiastic.

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Jaafar Jackson, Michael Jackson’s nephew, portrays Michael in the movie, and his performance is being praised as a highlight of the film, despite other issues.

According to Pete Hammond of Deadline, Jaafar’s portrayal of Michael Jackson is remarkably accurate. Hammond praised Jaafar’s ability to capture the essence of Jackson, complete with convincing dance moves and strong acting skills, making audiences feel as if Jackson himself were on stage.

Despite generally criticizing the film in Little White Lies, David Jenkins acknowledged that Jafar Jackson’s performance was surprisingly good for a first-time actor, going beyond simple imitation and showing real growth as a performer.

Most critics haven’t been impressed with how Michael Jackson is portrayed in this new movie.

Authors

Matthew Trask

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2026-04-21 20:04