Actors - Moonwalker

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	Actors - Moonwalker

---- Moonwalker, also known as Michael Jackson: Moonwalker, was a movie released in 1988 by singer Michael Jackson. Rather than featuring one continuous narrative, the film is a collection of short films about the entertainer, several of which are long form music videos from Jackson's Bad album.

Original release

Moonwalker was originally released to co-incide with Jackson's 1987 album, Bad. During the theatrical release of Moonwalker, Jackson was also embarking on a world tour.

Plot

The movie consists of several segments, including (in chronological order):

Man in the Mirror

The music video to Jackson's song Man in the Mirror
acts as the opening segment to the film. This short film features a montage of clips of children from Africa, Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and other historical figures.

Retrospective

A short biographical film about Jackson, covering the years from his birth until the "Bad" tour.

Badder

A parody of the music video for Bad's title song, featuring children filling the roles of various people from the original clip.

Of note, this video features a young Nikki Cox, who would eventually star on Unhappily Ever After and Las Vegas.

Speed Bunny

The Badder clip transitions into a second short film, referred to as 'Speed Bunny', directed by Claymation innovator Will Vinton. This acts as the music video to the song Speed Demon. In the film, Michael, in an attempt to avoid overzealous fans, disguises himself as a rabbit (named Spike), but ends up taunting the fans into chasing him. During the chase, he morphs into other celebrities, including Sylvester Stallone and Pee-Wee Herman. After finally losing the fans, he removes the costume, which comes to life and dances with him. In the end, a policeman tells him he is in a "No Moonwalking Zone", and just as Jackson was expecting a ticket, the officer, ironically, demands his autograph.

Leave Me Alone

The fifth segment of the film is the short film for the song Leave Me Alone, and features an animated music video focusing on media interest in Jackson's personal life.

Smooth Criminal

The main segment of the film is set to the song Smooth Criminal
, where Jackson is a gangster (somewhat similar to that portrayed in some Fred Astaire musicals), with the ability to morph by wishing upon a shooting star (a theme borrowed from the children's story Pinnochio). This long form version includes the "Smooth Criminal" short form clip, where Jackson dances through Club 30's, a 1930s style New Orleans jazz club. The antagonist is Frankie "Mr. Big" LiDeo (played by Joe Pesci) with an entire SWAT-like foot soldier army of heavily-armed black-clad henchmen who have Michael outnumbered and outgunned. The supporting characters are three children; one named Katie who was captured by LiDeo's stormtroopers and almost became a test subject for his new drug.

In the film, Jackson plays with his young friends outdoors when they come upon a cave, which leads to a kind of dream world in which Frankie LiDeo has been selling drugs to youths in order to get everyone hooked. In the dream world, Jackson must save a kidnapped girl named Katie from Mr. Big's soldier-like henchmen, which he does through the power of a "wishing star". Jackson uses this power to transform into a super-fast car, a robotic man and even a spaceship before saving Katie's life.

The version of the song used in this segment is different from the album version — there are several new lyrics and the song is much longer overall. The more commonly seen music video form is a four-minute collage of various clips from the movie.

Come Together

The film closes with Jackson performing a cover of The Beatles' song Come Together. One of the child actors in this movie is Sean, son of the late Beatle John Lennon.

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