I saw this back in May. Actually enjoyed it more than I expected to. It's a fairly straightforward narrative backed by a killer soundtrack (I've said several times with films like this that you could get the same effect by reading their Wikipedia page whilst listening to their greatest hits) but as these kinds of films* go I thought this was one of the better ones. Helped by having an experienced writer and director, and Jackson's discography being so great doesn't hurt.
It sidesteps anything remotely connected to the allegations and settles for merely showing us that he was a little odd, that his lack of a childhood impacted him greatly, instilling in him an urge to seek alternative father figures because his own was so awful. It also seeks to explain why he sought friendship from children and animals, though the film really overdoes the Peter Pan allusions!
Jaafar is decent, I thought the kid playing little Michael was superb though. Domingo is a great actor, but Joe barely rises above the level of moustache twirling villain, and it's interesting to see he's the only person the film gives a rough ride to, and boy does it give him a rough ride (I know he was an absolute monster, just feels like the film channelled anything negative into him and went soft on everyone else, or just didn't mention then, I guess outside of a Ouija board Joe was the least likely to sue!)
There is a certain sick irony that the film goes into detail about how Michael was used to enrich Joe, and by extension the rest of the family, when here we have a film where Michael, even after death, is being used to continue to enrich the family.
I probably will watch any sequel though, especially if it commits to being a tad more controversial.
*For the record I think Rocketman is the best such biopic, it tries to do something a little different, and doesn't paint Elton John as either a victim or a saint, and given unlike most of these films John is still alive and was behind this film, certainly made him go up a notch in my estimation because it isn't always kind to him!
