Related: Local fans weigh in on Jackson film.

Photos: Premieres around the world.

The best thing about Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” is how its breathlessly exciting rehearsal footage makes you anticipate the larger-than-life series of shows to follow.

And the worst thing about Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” is that it makes you anticipate the series of shows to follow…because there aren’t ever going to be any shows.

The movie, which shares the name of the 50-concert series in London that the late King Of Pop had planned for last summer, is part behind-the-scenes glimpse, part fan “Thank You” and part genuine revelation, because the Michael Jackson seen putting various dancers, musicians and personnel through their paces often bears little resemblance to the one we thought he knew. This Michael is more grown-up, more masculine, deeper of voice, professional but perfectionist and generally more…normal than the whispering, ashen-faced Peter Pan of tabloid and stand-up comedian lore.

Also, Jackson’s apparent physical and vocal competence in the film make an indirect but very intriguing case for the theory that Jackson was murdered, and also for the theory that some tabloids are dirty, filthy liars who make stuff up. Because unless pretty much the entire movie is the work of camera tricks, Pro Tools and an “E! Hollywood Story” re-enactment team, there’s no matching the man on screen with the frail, wrecked-voice wraith that Jackson was supposed to have become. This Michael Jackson, at 50, just weeks before his death, still has eerily sublime pitch and vocal purity, and the sharp, fluid moves of a dance master. If he does not hit every beat with the same enthusiasm as his young dancers, including West Palm Beach’s Kriyss Grant, it’s because he seems to be saving his energy, as he explains, for the show, not because he doesn’t have any left to give.

Because when he gives it – boy, does he. Again, the frustrating part of “This Is It” is the forever unfulfilled promise of all this practicing and planning. If the numbers, some rehearsed in costume and with still-evolving staging and special effects, are any indication, these shows would have been amazing. Many of Jackson’s huge hits are covered here, most strikingly the haunting “Human Nature,” which becomes a sort of vocal master class, and the intriguing black and white movie clip that had a zoot-suited Jackson flirting with Rita Hayworth and trading gunfire with Humphrey Bogart as an intro to “Smooth Criminal.”

The most telling exchanges, though, are some of the non-musical ones, as Jackson insists on nuances that initially escape the other musicians, or dedicates a song to his brothers and mother, Catherine, but never mentions his estranged father Joe. The singer, who went out of his way to seem larger-than-life, has never seemed more human – or more strong. By the movie’s end, set to the always-emotional “Man In The Mirror,” it’s obvious that while Jackson had a lot professionally at stake, he still derived a joy at performing and at the cheers that the crew emitted whenever he hit a perfect note that’s as obvious as the smile on his face.

If only this had just been the dress rehearsal, and not the final goodbye.

THIS IS IT (PG, 1 hour 51 minutes). Grade: A