Beyond evoking the enjoyment of watching Michael Jackson sing or dance as well as a feeling of sadness that he’s gone, Kenny Ortega’s documentary Michael Jackson’s This Is It proves Jackson was a musical genius the likes of which may never be seen again.

The film includes one rehearsal after another for a planned King of Pop comeback in a series of concerts at London’s O2 Arena. From the time he was a young boy on stage with the Jackson five to becoming an accomplished and creative music icon in videos such as “Thriller” and “Billy Jean,” we’ve seen and enjoyed Jackson’s finished productions.

Although some are now throwing stones at Ortega for releasing what was supposed to be Jackson’s personal video of the rehearsals, we now see behind-the-scenes -- and fans are eager to salute and honor him. At the beginning of the film, we see the casting call issued for dancers to audition plus every crew and cast member who appears in This Is It. What goes into these shows simply boggles the mind.

It’s also beyond comprehension how much Jackson understood the dynamics of performance, including pitch, tone, delivery of his songs, lighting and timing of background singers and dancers. He was in control of every single aspect no matter whose names were in the credits, and that’s apparent throughout this film.

Ortega handles the direction with impressive finesse. As director of films such as Dirty Dancing (1988) and Resurrection Blvd. (2004), TV shows like Ally McBeal and High School Musical and world events -- including the opening ceremony for the XIX Winter Olympics -- Ortega knows his business. He also knows his talent. There were times during rehearsal for This Is It that Jackson would object to something Ortega said or gently correct him, but always with a “it’s for the love” -- which Jackson repeats often while giving directions to cast or crew members – or “I Love you,” to which Ortega would reply, “I love you, Michael.”

There are many things I like about this film. Although it’s obvious Jackson was only giving about 80% of his efforts in both his singing and dance routines -- and he offered comments about this (“I’m saving my voice and my strength”) --  it was still equal to 120% compared to other performers. And there are many instances when the music is Jackson’s real director, when you can tell he’s caught up and can’t quite hold himself back. No matter how many times he’s performed songs such as “Beat It,” “Black or White” or his other popular songs, he and the music are forever paired, so it seems impossible for him to control his own needs of self preservation when the band starts up.

I enjoyed Jackson’s tender sparring with keyboardist and musical director Michael Bearden. When Jackson made a slight tempo change to “The Way You Make Me Feel,” Bearden said he wasn’t always able to predict how Jackson wanted the song to sound, to which Jackson replied, “I want it like I wrote it.” And that ended the conversation.

Some of the visuals in this documentary are terrific. I think the ghouls and makeup in the scenes of “Thriller” are far more exciting than in the original video. The entire audience seemed enthralled when Jackson began his rendition of  “Smooth Criminal” with clips of black and white classic films such as Gilda (1946) with Rita Hayworth and His Girl Friday. It’s through the magic of CGI in these scenes that, Jackson, in an appropriate fedora, becomes immersed right into the action along side Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart.

Also rousing is Jackson’s passionate Earth sequence where images of beautiful scenery from the world are shown as Jackson sings “Human Nature” and “Earth Song.”

Ortega refers to This Is It as a musical mosaic. “Michael did like pushing the limits…with new inventions in technology,” he explained. “In this case, we could make steps forward with video, costuming, lighting, sound, and pyrotechnics. So whenever we approached a number, our first question was ‘Can we do that better,’ because I knew that Michael just wouldn’t accept it if it wasn’t original. But the truly amazing thing is that as big and loud as things got on that stage, he made everything seem like it was just an extension of him. You never lost him -- you could create big visuals, spectacle on a stage, but you never lost Michael.”

I believe This Is It brings the “Man In The Mirror” full circle. We may not have realized what a true musical genius Michael Jackson was, but now we’ll always have this terrific reminder.

(Released by Sony Pictures and rated “PG” for some suggestive choreography and scary images.)

Review also posted at www.reviewexpress.com .