I was prepared to hate it, and...

Rating: 9/10 (22 May 2020)

I was ready to pull the plug on it during the first five minutes; I'm grateful that I did not, and stayed with it till the very end of the final credits.
Background:
1. I liked some of Elton John's work but found his production after "Yellow Brick Road" repetitive and lacking.
2. Don't really like musicals; I can go through My Fair Lady, South Pacific, Show Boat or Paint Your Wagon with some pleasure but it (usually) stops there.
3. Didin't know diddi about the production.
Thanks in earnest to the people that insisted me to watch it: **IT IS ASUPERB PIECE OF CINEMATOGRAPHY!!**
The casting: it is one of the best I've seen in ages! You glide through the film like you are immersed in real life, not in a _musical_, acting, by ALL, from the main characters to the last extra is so good that you forget you are watching actors, not the real people portrayed. Again the genre "Musical" keeps unnoticed from start to end but, then again, the music is sooo good that you don't want it to end.
Hats off to the director: he spins such a fine hand with the cast and crew that you simply do not know he was there.
Last but not least: Taron Egerton, whom I didn't have heard mentioned until this film gave a completely lifelike performance, with all the bright and dark of the complicated character. To boot, I had to wait until the final credits to learn _he sings all the pieces. Until that moment I thought they were studio clips.
Do watch it; highly recommended.