Great Movie As Long As You Remember: It's Not A Musical Biography!

Rating: 9/10 (22 January 2018)

I've always loved musicals. I grew up on them, from both sides of my family, so seeing The Greatest Showman's movie trailer had me a bit concerned. I mean, yea, Hugh Jackman is amazingly handsome, a fantastic actor and could move like wolverine-ish lightning, but could he sing. Could he really pull off such a elegant performance? OF COURSE HE COULDThe title says it all- The Greatest Showman is the telling of Phineas Taylor Barnum, though not a biography. This Broadway movie is more like a fantasy. With colors that lit up the large screen, energetic moves that was weren't always from dancing, and lyrics that made you swoon, The Greatest Showman was one of the best bits of entertainment I've seen this year!
But you have to understand, while watching, this is not who Barnum actually was. It's a movie. A really fun movie, but that is all. He really wasn't a good man. He got incredibly rich from the misery of his acts. None were as happy and cheerful, as with he movie. But who wants to know the gory details, right? Especially about Lind and Barnum splitting over financial differences, instead of unrequited love...
All in all, I found myself just as mesmerized with The Greatest Showman, about half as much as when I see West Side Story- a real musical/Broadway play that kicks butt! Hugh Jackman did an incredible job, though he's much older than when Barnum began his circus. Zendaya, a woman I'd never seen before the movie, was sweet and sings beautifully. And Keala Settle has a huge voice. I believe I read this was her first movie.
So if you want to hear an incredible soundtrack, see bright lights and colors that leap from the screen, along with fun jump and shouts- this is your movie. The Greatest Showman will probably wind up in my iTunes library, along with the soundtrack.
Cheers!