I originally saw Captain EO in 1989 and was spectacularly under-whelmed by its mediocrity even then, the 'film' ostensibly an excuse for some of the biggest egos in the US entertainment business to recklessly blow a shed-load of Disney's cash.
Now, with its star Michael Jackson having moon-walked off this mortal coil, this extravagant multi-million dollar musical spectacular has been reinstated as an attraction at Disneyland, giving me another chance to revel in all of its bloated, self-indulgent, 80s 'splendour'. And it's worse than I had remembered.
Virtually plot less, loaded with unbelievably poor special effects from ILM (enhanced by really crap 3D), and boasting a particularly dreadful central performance from Jackson, it's hard to believe that this rubbish was written by the creator of Indiana Jones and directed by the man who brought us The Godfather.
After a load of badly written space-flavoured nonsense aimed at a pre-teen audience (complete with crap cuddly hand-puppet aliens, ropey robots, and unexciting space-battle action), the whole thing turns into a garish musical nightmare of spandex, metallic make-up, and coloured lights as MJ belts out a forgettable track and struts his stuff in order to teach the evil Supreme Leader (Anjelica Huston) all about love, peace and understanding (a primo piece of Jacko schmaltz).
Some novel in-theatre trickery (such as moving seats, wind machines, and lighting effects) adds a touch of fun, but Captain EO is unlikely to impress anyone but the most rabid of Jackson fans.
Now, with its star Michael Jackson having moon-walked off this mortal coil, this extravagant multi-million dollar musical spectacular has been reinstated as an attraction at Disneyland, giving me another chance to revel in all of its bloated, self-indulgent, 80s 'splendour'. And it's worse than I had remembered.
Virtually plot less, loaded with unbelievably poor special effects from ILM (enhanced by really crap 3D), and boasting a particularly dreadful central performance from Jackson, it's hard to believe that this rubbish was written by the creator of Indiana Jones and directed by the man who brought us The Godfather.
After a load of badly written space-flavoured nonsense aimed at a pre-teen audience (complete with crap cuddly hand-puppet aliens, ropey robots, and unexciting space-battle action), the whole thing turns into a garish musical nightmare of spandex, metallic make-up, and coloured lights as MJ belts out a forgettable track and struts his stuff in order to teach the evil Supreme Leader (Anjelica Huston) all about love, peace and understanding (a primo piece of Jacko schmaltz).
Some novel in-theatre trickery (such as moving seats, wind machines, and lighting effects) adds a touch of fun, but Captain EO is unlikely to impress anyone but the most rabid of Jackson fans.