Go and watch a freak show ! Otherwise the bad guys will win !

Rating: 3/10 (17 November 2018)

From a musical point of view, "The greatest showman" isn't very interesting : the music is bland and the lyrics are trite. Much of it looks and feels like a watered-down version of "Moulin rouge". Still, the various makers of the movie were clever enough to make Jenny Lind, the Swedish Nightingale, sing the same kind of forgettable stuff as the rest of the crowd, justly realizing that their work was unlikely to withstand a comparison with a nice slice of, say, Meyerbeer or Bellini.
However, there are worse problems than the musical aspect. The movie is intent on delivering some of the most contradictory messages imaginable. Try this one : "It is fully okay to look unusual - to be a giant, an albino, or half of a Siamese twin - on condition that you don't mind being stared at for ten hours a day". In the contradiction stakes, this comes close to gems like "We fully understand that you're a lesbian, we just want you to sleep with men" or "As the ruling king of a constitutional monarchy, you are uniquely qualified to spread the word about the benefits of communism".
Another message from "The greatest showman" : if you gather a group of people with unusual looks or medical problems, and if you put them on display for financial gain, you're not exploiting them, you're supporting them.
Finally the movie warns you about the dangers of not wanting to go and see a freak show - chances are that you, annoying spoilsport, are an effete snob, a proto-Nazi or a knuckle-dragging primitive. You're not like that, are you ? So do the right thing ! Do what any decent, all-American, God-fearing citizen would do ! Go and gape at some inoffensive humans with a medical condition !
A modest conclusion : people who teach subjects such as philosophy, ethics and logic would do well to give the movie a wide berth, lest they suffer a stroke.
I'm still throwing the movie a few stars, because there are some likeable performances and fine stunts to enjoy. Hugh Jackman in particular imbues his P.T. Barnum with a great deal of charm - much more charm, I suspect, than the actual P.T. Barnum ever possessed...