The Greatest "Just Fine" Showman

Rating: 7/10 (27 January 2018)

"The Greatest Showman" is a flashy and beautifully looking spectacle intended to showcase a real life based story on P.T. Barnum, the original creator of the circus. While not remaining true to the real story and drawing real inspiration from true events, the film boasts spectacular aesthetics and emotionally stirring musical numbers, the movie ultimately falls short of truly dazzling but simply satisfies.
Every rumor about outstanding music and dance numbers are, off the bat, justified. In most musicals, at least one number can be pointed out which felt inferior to the rest of the score and couldn't quite escape the fast-forward button. This is not the case with "The Greatest Showman." Every number and song is one to listen and jam out to in the car and each piece is performed wonderfully by its charming cast and solid direction.
The driving force of "The Greatest Showman" is indeed its cast and their unbelievable devotion to the film. Every performance exudes enthusiasm and charisma which gives the sloppy script and weak story more life than it deserves. Hugh Jackman and Zac Effron are standouts in particular with Michelle Williams coming in strong as always. Zendaya, as usual, didn't impress however and felt unemotional and unconvincing altogether.
As mentioned prior, the aesthetics of "The Greatest Showman" are beautiful and astounding. Dripping colorful and lively cinematography, each shot contains wonderful pieces of excellent production design, costumes, and hair and makeup attention. The combination of these important elements help convincingly sell this movie and further immerse the viewer in a more classic feeling musical than what modern audiences are used to.
As mentioned above as well, the film suffers from a weak script with messy narrative structure and distracting editing choices than hurt the film's flow and narrative. Unfortunately, the film's script tends to unevenly tackle 3 or more completely separate themes or focuses for the film. As each act is introduced with a new theme that neither contradicts or compliments the previous theme, so its impact near the end can leave the audience feeling cheated as we wonder "Why did they tell this story in the first place?" At the end, we feel satisfied with the high moral values the filmmakers chose to leave the audience with and it warms our hearts. As we think deeper however, we realize maybe we've been tricked as we think of the possibly relevant line of dialogue found in the film "Does it bother you that what you're selling is all fake?"
Despite the apparent flaws in its written foundation, "The Greatest Showman" manages to entertain and satisfy audiences of all ages. This is a good film to show to younger audiences while older audiences will enjoy a trip to the theater with their family. The wonderful music and grand spectacle of the film outweighs the negatives and "The Greatest Showman" is indeed a solid film worth checking out.