Is best viewed in cinema for its non-stop razzle-dazzle and period opulence

Rating: 7/10 (31 December 2017)

To accord validation to a biopic of the American showman P.T. Barnum (1810-1891), the creator of he Barnum & Bailey Circus (which was closed in May 2017 after 146 years), one cannot bypass its subject's money-seeking avarice and unethical modus operandi, above all, the exploitation of his dysmorphia-scourged menagerie from which he made fame and fortune in the first place, by that yardstick, Australian Visual Effect craftsman Michael Gracey's directorial feature debut is a deep-fried shirker, whitewashing contentions and generalizing conflicts in servile service of a dazzling holiday fare, THE GREATEST SHOWMAN, its star Hugh Jackman's passion project for years, is still a spectacular crowdpleaser even crippled by its craven artistic slant.
Gliding smoothly through its slavish rags-to-riches template, the film wallows in its old-fashioned flair and punctuated by eleven anachronistic music numbers fashioned by the songwriting team behind LA LA LAND (2016), as a result they are robustly modern, infectiously hooky and choreographed with a modish MV-style sleekness.
Jackman is a real trouper as Barnum and simply amazing to behold and listen to with his virtuoso showmanship (alas, this couldn't be his career-crowning achievement), Michelle Williams is magnanimously given a solo piece to belt out as the benign, perspicacious but neglected wife Charity, yet for my money, the goosebumps-inducing earworms are Efron and Zendaya's trapeze-enhanced REWRITE THE STARS, the impact is more visual than aural though, and the belter NEVER ENOUGH (a pop standard instead of the usual opera piece treatment), from the Swedish Nightingale Jenny Lind (Ferguson), voice provided by Loren Allred. Ferguson, again certifies herself as the most stunning star today who is still endowed with the rarefied classical glamor and poise, we almost immediately forgive Barnum's infatuation with her just because she is that irresistible, who wouldn't capitulate under her spell, which conversely, makes Barnum's resolution to go back to his family nigh on apropos of nothing.
That said, THE GREATEST SHOWMAN is best viewed in cinema for its non-stop razzle-dazzle and period opulence, last but not the least, as a picture whose protagonist is patently heralded as a man who promulgates diversity and pluralism, the glaring remiss is that none of the members of Barnum's freak show is vouchsafed even a subplot of their own (the sensational Keala Settle as the bearded lady for instance, deserves her own tale of woe before triumphantly lead the center piece THIS IS ME), a lip service well paid thanks very much!