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==Plot==
The film consists of a collage of short stories, rather than being one continuous storyline. Each of the segments is described in the separate sub-sections below.

===Opening act===
The music video to Jackson's song "[[Man in the Mirror]]" acts as the opening segment to the film. This short segment features a montage of clips of children from [[Africa]], [[Mahatma Gandhi|Mahatma Gandhi]], [[Martin Luther King, Jr.]], [[John Lennon]], and other historical figures.

===Retrospective===
A short [[biography|biographical]] film about Jackson, covering the years from his birth until the [[Bad World Tour|''Bad'' tour]]. Excerpts of the following songs are played:
{| width=585px
|
* "[[Music and Me (Michael Jackson album)|Music and Me]]"
* "[[I Want You Back]]"
* "[[ABC (song)|ABC]]"
* "[[The Love You Save]]"
* "[[2-4-6-8]]"
* "[[Who's Lovin' You]]"
* "[[Ben (song)|Ben]]"
* "[[Dancing Machine]]"
* "[[Blame It on the Boogie]]"
* "[[Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)]]"
* "[[Rock with You]]"
|width="20px" |<!--spacer column-->
|
* "[[Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough]]"
* "[[Can You Feel It]]"
* "[[Human Nature (Michael Jackson song)|Human Nature]]"
* "[[Beat It]]"
* "[[Thriller (song)|Thriller]]"
* "[[Billie Jean]]"
* "[[State of Shock]]"
* "[[We Are the World]]"
* "[[The Way You Make Me Feel]]"
* "[[Dirty Diana]]"
|}
===Badder===
A parody of the music video for [[Bad (Michael Jackson song)|''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 (TV series)|Las Vegas]]''. The singing group [[The Boys (band)|The Boys]]  appear as background dancers.  The video also features Jermaine Jackson, Jr., Bilal (the R&B singer) and [[Brandon Quintin Adams]] of ''[[Mighty Ducks]]'' fame.

===Speed Demon===
The "Badder" clip transitions into a second short film, referred to as ''Speed Demon'', 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 (even [[The Noid]]), 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]], [[Tina Turner]], and [[Pee-Wee Herman]].  After finally losing the fans, he removes the costume, which comes to life and challenges him to a dance-off. In the end, a policeman tells him he is in a "No Moonwalking Zone", and when Michael turns to point Spike, the rabbit has already left. The policeman then sarcastically asks for his autograph (as opposed to "signature") on the ticket. Just as Michael is preparing to leave, the rocky crag in front of him morphs into Spike's head, who then nods to him, leaving Michael one-upped by his own alter-ego. Nonetheless, he seems happy enough as he leaves.

===Leave Me Alone===
The fifth segment of the film is the short film for the song "[[Leave Me Alone (song)|Leave Me Alone]]", and features an [[animated]] music video focusing on media interest in Jackson's [[personal life]], because he had felt that the tabloid, media, press, paparazzi, etc. wouldn't leave him alone. He feels that no matter what he does to prove his innocence, they will not leave him alone. The video for the song won a [[The Grammys|Grammy]] in 1989 for Breakthrough, animated video, the only Grammy Award received for the album, Bad.

===Smooth Criminal===
{{further|[[Smooth Criminal]]}}
Jackson plays a benevolent [[gangster]] who uses his powers, as a crime figure, to protect the children of an unnamed big city. The film opens with a framing sequence depicting a scene linked to events occurring near the end of the film, in which a group of children (including [[Sean Lennon]]) watch as Jackson exits a club and is attacked by mobsters with machine guns. The film then backtracks to a scene of Jackson playing in a field with those children and their dog. The dog runs away, but in their search for it, Jackson and the children uncover the lair of ''Mr. Big'', Frankie Lideo ([[Joe Pesci]], as a parody of Michael Jackson's own manager, [[Frank DiLeo]]), a drug-dealing mobster with an army of henchmen, who wants to get the entire populace of planet Earth addicted to drugs, starting with the children. Mr. Big discovers Jackson and the children, but they escape; Jackson tells the children to meet him at Club 30's, which turns out to be a haunted nightclub abandoned since the 1930s. The story goes back to the mobsters attack on Jackson, and here it is revealed that Jackson is actually a magical gangster, who draws his power from shooting stars. As one passes by the club, Jackson transforms into a sportscar and mows down several of Mr. Big's henchmen.  The story picks up on the children at Club 30's, and at first the children are afraid, but when Jackson appears the scary atmosphere of the club transforms and the children find themselves back in the 1930s.  The club is now filled with [[zoot suit]]ers and swing dancers. Jackson participates in a dance-off with the other club members, which serves as the music video for "[[Smooth Criminal]]". The version of the song used in this segment is different from the album version &mdash; there are several new lyrics and the song is much longer overall, including symphonic material by [[Bruce Broughton]]. The extra lyrics are to make the story of the song clearer. The more commonly seen music video form is a four-minute collage of various clips from the movie.

At the climax of the song, Mr. Big lays siege to the club and kidnaps one of the children, Katie. Jackson follows them back to Big's lair and ends up surrounded by his henchmen. Mr. Big appears and mentally tortures Jackson by threatening to inject Katie with highly addictive narcotics. While Katie manages to wriggle free from being injected, Mr. Big decides he's had enough and orders his men to kill Katie before finishing off Jackson, but not before a shooting star flies by. Jackson transforms into a giant robot and kills all of Mr. Big's soldiers. After Jackson turns into a giant spaceship, Mr. Big gets into a large hillside mounted energy cannon, firing on the spaceship into a nearby ravine. The children are his next target, but the spaceship returns from the ravine just in time to fire a beam in the cannon with Mr. Big inside, saving the children from destruction.

The [[sports car]] into which Jackson morphs in this segment is the 1970 prototype [[Lancia Stratos|Lancia Stratos 0]]. The automobile now resides in the private show room of the [[Bertone]] stile center at [[Caprie]] (in [[Susa Valley]]).<ref>[http://www.bertone.it/en/scheda_70_stratos_en.htm Information on the Lancia Stratos 0] at the [[Bertone]] website (in the [[Internet Archive]]) <!-- the site is no longer accessible --></ref>

===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 Lennon]], son of [[John Lennon]]. Released as the B-Side to "[[Remember the Time]]" in January 1992 and a slightly different version appeared on the 1995 release of the ''[[HIStory]]'' album, on disc 2. This song was originally supposed to be on the "Days of Thunder" soundtrack.

===Closing credits===
During the closing credits, two more segments are shown. The first has [[Ladysmith Black Mambazo]] performing "The Moon is Walking" in Club 30's amidst behind-the-scenes clips. The second is the four-minute version of the "[[Smooth Criminal]]" music video.