Boring plot and flat characters overshadow an otherwise flashy film.

Rating: 4/10 (15 August 2019)

This film isn't awful, definitely not. It's mostly just a snore fest. First the positives: The camera work in the dance scenes are fantastic. It shows that a ton of effort was poured into these scenes. The choreography was also fantastic. Some songs are also decent, with notable tracks including the title track and "This is Me".The acting isn't notable, but it serves its purpose with the film.
Now the negatives: The story itself is very dull. The first few minutes are very rushed, with it going from the main character as a child to a middle aged man in the span of three or four minutes. We aren't given any reason to care about this character other then the fact that they get slapped and have their best friend get sent to a boarding school, which isn't executed very well. Another thing this film isn't very good at is showing the life of the actual P.T. Barnum, although this may be a minor nitpick. In the film, a character is introduced about thirty minutes in, Jenny Lind. It's implied that this character has a crush on Barnum . During their last concert together, Lind embraces Barnum and kisses him, which is photographed by the press, and the photo eventually makes it to Charity, Barnum's wife. After leaving him, they both meet up on the beach and reconcile. This obviously did not happen in real life. Barnum only toured with Lind, no more, no less. This was obviously made up by the writers in order to fit the cliche of the "You did something bad, but I forgive you" ending. This is also a problem, the film is filled with cliches and underdeveloped story ideas. The characters are also pretty bland, consisting of the stereotypical business man who wants to make it big, his wife, two bad child actors as their daughters, and underdeveloped characters galore. Finally, apart from a few examples, the soundtrack is your typical "Big, flashy, and emotional musical," type of thing. Many tracks are very boring, annoying, and poorly produced, usually filled with terrible auto-tune.
Overall, this is a very boring musical with a mediocre soundtrack, but there are a few redeeming elements. Die hard musical geeks and kids would surely get a kick out of this, but viewers with an eye for story and characters should stay away.