Good, but many flaws

Rating: 4/10 (15 April 2018)

I watched this move tonight, with high expectations with what I would get. I walked out feeling upset about what I saw. Let me start off by pointing out everything good I saw from this film.
I believe Hugh Jackman and Zac Efron played their parts magnificently. They both put their heart and soul into these parts, portraying their roles masterfully. The part of Lind was played well, as was the wife and children. The music was phenomenal. I almost have the guts to possibly watch La La Land. The camera angles were placed perfectly, changing from one angle to the next simply without error. But besides those points, I do have many negatives to point out.
I feel that the major flaw to this movie was its pacing. The viewer only has about 10 minutes to take in his childhood, and then you are seeing him as an adult. They move to quickly from what is supposed to be from one point in time to the next. The speed at which the story was told became too fast for me, but that's just my opinion. Another problem I had with the movie was that it became too easy to predict. I would think throughout the movie, "this is going to happen." Almost every time I was correct. The last comment I will make talks about how the songs were introduced. I didn't understand the point to why one line would just end, with no music, and all of the sudden, you hear singing from one of the characters just burst from nowhere. I feel there should have been a better introduction to every song. With "This is Me," I feel the circus members should have shared ideas about how they felt about Barnum leaving them out of the party before the song was introduced. This would help build character depth and create a better way for a character's struggles to be shown.
Because of these pros and cons, I give this movie a 6/10. It showed to be promising, but when the movie closes, you feel that there could have been more to the movie.