Well, I could not resist. While in Epcot this past Monday, I found time to go see Captain EO. I actually don’t regret seeing it. Of course, it was no Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, Splash Mountain, or Tower of Terror, but it was kind of cute. Some parts were very cool, and some parts were really stupid.
For those of you who may not know, Captain EO is a 3D movie (although I think this is technically a 4D movie), starring Michael Jackson, that was released in the Disney parks in 1986, and ran through the mid-90s.
After Michael Jackson died, as with his music, interest in Captain EO was renewed. Disney reopened Captain EO in Disneyland on February 23, 2010, Disneyland Paris on June 12, 2010, Tokyo Disney on July 1, and in Epcot on on July 2. I’m not sure about the other parks, but the Epcot version replaced the 3D movie “Honey I Shrunk the Audience” (which had replaced Captain EO in the first place).
Captain EO was directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and also starred Anjelica Huston, who played the Supreme Leader. Also, George Lucas was the executive producer. The pre-show was the same exact pre-show from 1986. It just basically showed scenes of a very young Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas working, preparing to film the movie. And it showed the secondary characters getting their makeup put on.

**Spoiler Alert – Don’t read the description if you haven’t seen the movie and don’t want to be spoiled**

The movie tells the story of Captain EO (Michael Jackson) and the ragtag crew of his spaceship on a mission to deliver a gift to “The Supreme Leader”, of a world of rotting, twisted metal and steaming vents.
The movie starts with a space battle, which was the best part in my opinion. You can definitely tell that George Lucas had a major influence on this. And what made this even better was the 4-D experience that I mentioned earlier. As the ship is getting banged around, it feels like you are in the ship because the whole theater shakes and bangs around. It wasn’t like a motion ride, but it was just enough to make it really cool. During this space battle you meet all the characters of Captain EO’s crew. Again, you can tell that Lucas had a hand in this, because you feel like you’ve seen these characters in Star Wars’ Cantina. The crew consists of his small flying sidekick Fuzzball, the double-headed navigator and pilot Idey (Debbie Lee Carrington) and Ody (Cindy Sorenson), robotic security officer Major Domo (Gary Depew), a small robot Minor Domo (who fits like a module into Major Domo), and the Jar-Jar Binks of Captain EO, the clumsy elephant-like shipmate Hooter (Tony Cox).

Separated at Birth?	Hooter from Captain EO	Max Rebo from Star Wars

After Captain EO and the gang wins their battle, they crash land, they are captured and meet the Supreme Leader. This is where the movie kind of falls of the deep end. The Supreme Leader sentences the crew to be turned into trash cans (!), and Captain EO to 100 years of torture in her deepest, darkest dungeon. Before being sent away, Captain EO tells the Supreme Leader that he sees the beauty hidden within her, and that he brings her the key to unlock it: his song, “We Are Here To Change The World”. As he is singing the song, Captain EO is zapping the robot bad guys with beams from his arms and hands, and turns them into human dancers. Although the idea is pretty ridiculous, the effects are awesome – especially for the time that this was created – and the music is great. You actually feel like you’re transported back to the ’80s. There are warriors swing whips, and you can feel them go by you.
Of course, Captain EO transforms all the bad guys, and gets to the Supreme Leader. He zaps her, transforming her into a beautiful woman, her lair into a peaceful Greek temple and the planet into a beautiful place.

A celebration breaks out to “Another Part of Me”, as EO and his crew triumphantly exit and fly off into space.

This was a nice nostalgic trip back to the ’80s. I would recommend seeing this once. I don’t think I would go back over and over, if at all. But it is worth seeing once.