If you love musicals like I do, this is Heaven--UPDATED 12/23/17

Rating: 10/10 (21 December 2017)

Just got home from seeing an opening night showing of "The Greatest Showman," perfectly presented on a big, bright, sharply-focused CinemaScope-masked screen with a great sound system, and this is one of those breathtaking films that uses every wide-screen inch in a glorious way, for the full running time of the film. I've not been this completely, instantly smitten with a film musical since Baz Luhrmann's "Moulin Rouge" all those years ago--it's that inventive and, thankfully, as exhilarating and as much, or maybe even more, fun (hmm...guess I'll have to go see it again this week just to see whether it is more fun than "Rouge" was--that will be my excuse for seeing this at least one more time while it's still on the big screen!). Frankly, I'd put "Greatest Showman" not only up there with "Rouge"--it was also as fun, touching, and downright unabashedly sentimental (in a very good way) as my favorite musical of all time, "Singin' in the Rain." And I don't say that lightly. There is unrestrained, uplifting passion and joy in this film, and we as the audience are heartily invited to join in. It has been a long (long!) time since I have enjoyed every song in a new, original musical score on first listen, and the energy and sheer magic of how the choreography was filmed for this production will be a fascinating study all to itself. I actually involuntarily gasped a few times from the inventiveness of the camera work and just how well it captured the swirling, dizzying flow of the dancing--and I am very aware of just how difficult filming great choreography can be. One quick example: There is a song and dance number that takes place in a bar (featuring Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron and one very nimble bartender) which had me holding my breath without realizing it until it was over, when I suddenly realized my mouth was hanging open and it was time for me to breathe again. While that was a highlight, it's genuinely just one of many. At film's end, my best friend and I broke into spontaneous applause, and we were thrilled to hear the audience around us doing the same. There will no doubt be some cranky, joyless critics who will hate it (which is actually an amusing subplot in the film itself), and those who don't like musicals because "people just aren't supposed to break out into song in a movie" will likely not be fans, either, but wow, for those of us that feel like there are way too few great musicals onscreen anymore, this is Heaven on Earth. I truly cannot wait to see it again. / UPDATE 12/23/17: Saw it again last night, only two days after my opening-day viewing, again with my best friend, and we both agreed it was even better the second time around. We noticed subtleties and touches we hadn't noticed in the first dazzling (and overwhelming) viewing, and are both now even more hooked on the soundtrack as well--I just bought it for that same best friend as a Christmas gift, along with a book about the making of the film. I truly am, well, unabashedly in love with this film, and will be seeing it yet again as soon as I can. What a perfect Holiday-time gift from the filmmakers and performers for musical fans and moviegoers!