I never went to Disneyland when they had the Captain EO ride, so I have no nostalgia for this. Matter of fact I never looked up the short film to watch on youtube even because of the names of Coppola and Lucas attached. Only out of curiosity following Michael Jackson's death did I pop it on. Boy howdy - this is one of the biggest, most colossal "WTF" things you'll see in your lifetime.
That is, if you don't have fond memories of it, which seems strange to me. Some may have seen this as kids and loved it for the spectacle, of Jackson with a bunch of cuddly and weird alien creatures and then a big musical number that kicks the ass off of an evil alien-metal queen. But seeing it without the nostalgia, it is just... a mess. It's a bunch of fantasy images sprawled with Jackson's ego sprouting up in one of those "Oh-my-GOD-that-is-so-80's" songs and videos.
Oh sure, the visual FX from Lucasfilm are impressive, for its time, and the song isn't the worst Jakcson put out. But damn it all if one can't figure out why Coppola chose to direct it (well, money I guess, didn't have enough colossal budget pictures to tackle), or even Lucas produced it. There's moments where you'll laugh out loud, scratch your head in disbelief, and groan at, yes, the boredom. Or, if you're nostalgic for it, you may forgive it on a viewing so many years after it was released and then pulled out of the Disneyland lineup. You have to watch it just out of curiosity. If you watch it repeatedly then, um, you're a bigger fan than I'll ever be. Again, wow.
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