American Music Story

Rating: 6/10 (10 January 2018)

"The Greatest Showman" is a new 2017 movie and one of the most talked about musicals of the year. It runs for 105 minutes and was written by Oscar winner Bill Condon and Emmy winner Jenny Bicks. These two are probably more known than director Michael Gracey. The big star, however, here is lead actor Hugh Jackman playing the title character P.T. Barnum, a man with a poor background whose talent, tolerance and willpower turn him into one of the most creative artists from his generation. Next to him playing the women in his life, we got Oscar nominee Michelle Williams and Golden Globe nominee Rebecca Ferguson. And there's Zac Efron and Zendaya in it too getting their own love story for their characters and these are in it to attract young audiences for sure, but to make sure it's gonna be more than another High School Musical we got the likes of Jackman etc. Efron and Zendaya were okay I guess, I expected worse perhaps. But the huge star is Jackman. I think without him this would have been a pretty mediocre film at times, but he elevates the material by so much. Sure the film is still miles worse than Les Mis for example, but it's still a decent watch most of the time. We'll see if Jackman can get in at the Oscars once again and I sure hope so. He is by far the best musical blockbuster actor for lead characters we got. Also they made a really good job to close the age gap between him and Williams. This film won a Golden Globe recently, but I must say I am not too big on the winning song and that I preferred most others to be honest. But that's just subjective of course and I also don't know how many of the others were original. Still another huge success for the La La Land song composers to strike again.
Another weakness was the rushed-in jealousy / potential cheating story line that ended as quickly as it began and had zero significance overall really. And maybe to a lesser extent also the fire story. If he could expand globally, then he sure can rebuild his dream. Or the sudden loss of money near the end. But it is easy to overlook these flaws with how amazing most of the music was, especially the very first and last song. And the characters were also pretty interesting in this underdog story. They did not try to constantly include try-hard jokes (and the few funny references like the critic felt pretty smart), but let music and story speak for themselves which was a brilliant decision really. The actors are all good, also the lesser known ones. Nothing wrong about the visual side either, costumes, sets and makeup were all top-notch and I hope the recognition the film may possibly find at the Oscars in these areas can extend to Jackman getting in too. His P.T. Barnum is the heart and soul of a movie that I found inspiring to watch and that also creatively inspired me somehow while watching. And this really is the biggest compliment you can make a movie. Of course, I give it a thumbs-up and recommend checking it out.