The Greatest Showman (2017) Review!!

Synopsis – Inspired by the imagination of P.T. Barnum, The Greatest Showman is an original musical that celebrates the birth of show business and tells of a visionary who rose from nothing to create a spectacle that became a worldwide sensation.

My Take – I have never really been a fan of musicals, especially the ones where they sing/talk at the same time, to take the story forward, well of course, we have exceptions like the Oscar winning Les Miserables (2012) & La La Land (2016), both of which, when simply put, were mesmerizing experiences. I do believe it takes a filmmakers’ steady vision & the labor of love from the musicians involved, to turn a musical film into something that can be either tormenting or just alluring. While the year 2017 comes to an with an interesting mix of buzz worthy films and Oscar hopefuls, this film, written by Jenny Bicks and Bill Condon and brought to the screen by first-time director Michael Gracey, has somehow managed to catch almost everyone’s attention for its eye candy trailers. Of course, the presence of Hugh Jackman also helps a deciding factor, mainly as he can not only dance, sing and act, but also because he possesses a levels of nice-guy charisma which most A-listers can only dream of, and It comes as a no shock that this glitzy musical has employed him to play the eponymous circus pioneer P.T. Barnum, an ambitious dreamer who pushed social boundaries to deliver a theatrical extravaganza others couldn’t even imagine. While the critics have gone as far as calling the film shallow and populist, among other things, I personally believe this is the film we all need, now more than ever, mainly as this uplifting, joyous experience has everything we would wish to watch on a long New Year holiday. From the incredible, toe-tapping music to the heartfelt, dream-filled, story-line, this is a film that families can enjoy together, devoid of the sappiness and goofy grownups that infest most family fare, and the greatest present of all, it leaves you feeling wonderful at the end!

Yes, it is not a straight up biopic of the actual P.T. Barnum because the actual P.T. Barnum had his controversies, but instead takes the character and puts a spin on his story, including his touring with opera singer, Jenny Lind, something which makes the film very refreshing. Yes, the film stumbles on problems with its script, but the glorious soundtrack (courtesy of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the Academy Award-winning lyricists of La La Land), fantastic production and set design, had me so immersed that I completely forgot that I was sitting in a packed theater. The story follows Phineas Taylor Barnum (Hugh Jackman), best known today as simply P.T. Barnum, a poor tailor’s son, who despite his status, manages to get married to the love of his life, Charity (Michelle Williams), a girl hailing from a lavish and wealthy family. A few years later, the two are still living in a small apartment with a leaky roof, but are now blessed with two daughters, Caroline (Austyn Johnson) and Helen (Cameron Seely), who seem to be happy and contend with their life. After losing yet another job, Barnum decides to pursue his dream of showmanship and convinces a bank to loan him $10,000 so he could purchase a macabre wax museum. However, as the museum begins to fail, Barnum goes in searching for some live performers, often termed as freaks in the society, to turn them into stars of his show, with the hope that human’s morbid curiosity would draw them in. Signing up Tom Thumb, a bearded lady, the World’s Fattest Man, the Irish Giant and Anne Wheeler (Zendaya), an acrobat among others, the show unexpectedly becomes a big sensation as people lined up to see something no one had ever seen before. In order to earn some legitimacy in front of the rich and high society crow, Barnum also joins partnership with Phillip Carlyle (Zac Efron), a genuine well known theatre producer, who takes some convincing but gets on board and it isn’t long before their entire troop gets an audience with the British Queen. This is where he meets Jenny Lind (Rebecca Ferguson), a famed European opera singer, who stings into his ambitions and his desperate need for approval which makes him unable to see the joy and happiness that are already there right in front of him. The film tells a regular rag to riches story of a pioneer who rose from nothing to create a circus of oddities that became a worldwide sensation. The film got me hooked from the start and never let me go, it’s kind of hard not to, as the opening is just as spectacular as the end. Right from the opening scene you are told this is a ride and just in case you thought all would be glitter it quickly shows you there is more here than meets the eye. The film transports the audience into a time that is so distant and almost forgotten, but pulls on the heart and reminds viewers of the hardships of our predecessors and the ingenuity required to rise up from the bottom. The film is definitely great in most parts with its flashy and fast paced-fun musical scenes to its deep and heart pouring drama scenes with just a great A-List cast and crew in this spectacular production. With directorial debut, Michael Gracey definitely knew how to open up a show. Visually this film is stunning with multiple incredible shots of the circus in action with various musical scenes scattered throughout in various locations and it’s very witty and fun cast to backup this colorful film making it stand out. The film is inspiring, aggravating, tear-jerking, passionate, and full of wonder, like La La Land, this film feels like it takes you back in time to when musicals dominated the market. The editing dumps us straight into the musical style from the start, in a flash forward, whence we return closer to the beginning, to develop from the childhood characters of our protagonists, and right away there’s more singing.

Yes, there’s really quite a lot of music, singing, and dancing in the film, a lot more than La La Land. This is a film that raises your pulse and leads you to tap your feet, bob your head, mouth your new favorite song and even silently clap at the end of a Broadway-worthy performance. Songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who took home the Oscar for Original Song with their creation of “City of Stars” from La La Land, are back here and have written the original music for this film and I would be surprised if they didn’t get at least one more Oscar nomination this year as it was the music that really stole the show, as it’s the songs really made this show a spectacle and truly entertaining. . The soundtrack in this film is so much more thrilling, exciting, enchanting, and inspirational and will give you goose bumps all over. Another thing that you need to know is that even though the story is set in the 1800s, the music is not meant to sound like it comes from that era, the style is more contemporary or hip-hop, and it’s meant to give you that grand majestic impression, a risk that paid off. It starts with an anthem performance by Hugh Jackman of the show’s opening song “The Greatest Show” that has a similar feel to Queen‘s “We Will Rock You”, followed by sweet and inspiring ‘A Million Ways’, duet between Jackman and Williams. Efron and Jackman were the perfect pair in their duet in the bar as they sang “The Other Side”. Efron also has a very heart-felt, sweet, sincere, beautiful duet with Zendaya as they battle with their feelings for each other as they sang “Rewrite the Stars” and of course, the best of the lot, the Bearded Lady Lettie Lutz (Keala Settle) led the cast of the circus in a triumphant singing of “This is Me”. “Never Enough” by Loren Allred is also breathtaking. The sets also played great places for the cast to sing and dance to. My personal favorite being the first bar scene in the film with the song choice and the choreographed dance scene was just beautiful. Even the dance scene with every act on the stage was amazing with the long single takes and the amount of objects moving was beautiful. With the use of CGI to build some of the bigger views of the city and some of the landscape, it seems seamless with the match of practical built sets and real props. My biggest problem with the film has to be with the editing. Sure, I liked the fact that this film doesn’t overstay its welcome with its 105 minute run time, but the story need more time, however, I can see it was edited to keep the audience engaged and momentum up and these obvious editing choices hurt the film overall. Especially, the flip-flopping of allegiance of both Barnum and Carlyle could have used a little more time in the film to develop and transition. Expectedly, the side characters also remain underdeveloped. The acting here of-course is perfect! Hugh Jackman has already been nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance here and I enjoyed his singing as Barnum more than I liked his Jean Valjean in Les Miserables. Here, Jackman is amazing to watch and listen to, and he brings huge confidence and joy to his performance. Michelle Williams gives in another a great performance as the support system. Zac Efron‘s performance here was definitely a huge step in the right direction to separate him as more than just the goofball in crude comedies. Zendaya is also amazing, while Rebecca Ferguson and Keala Settle both give in full heart and even one spotting one hell of a beard for this film. On the whole, ‘The Greatest Showman’ is a fun and joyous musical that works due to its dazzling performances, hypnotic dance numbers and accessible music.