Hollow Spectacle

Rating: 4/10 (21 June 2019)

I have enjoyed Hugh Jackman's acting ever since I first saw him in X-Men. When I learned that he was a song and dance man, I was even more impressed with him. He also seems like a stand-up guy in general. He must have been very passionate about this project to have worked so hard and so tirelessly on it for so long. The very first scene pulled me right in, and the film is full of color and catchy songs for sure. To quote the character Phillip Carlyle, "Really, it's something."
So why only 4 stars? Because Jackman's passion didn't translate to the screen, in my opinion. For me, this movie was like a confection for which they forgot to add the filling. They laid it on thick with the spectacle; and there's plenty of the popular "stand up to the establishment" chest-thumping from more than one character, but I didn't feel any true emotional payoff at any point.
I'll gladly watch musicals like The Sound of Music, Fiddler on the Roof (with their long runtimes), and The King and I over and over again, start to finish. But I've only been replaying a few of The Greatest Showman's scenes, and they're all musical numbers. Once the catchy tunes are out of my head, I'll probably forget about this movie altogether--because there's really nothing to it.
Knowing what I know about the making of this film, I would hardly call it a cold and shameless money grab. But I do feel it has no heart. All the computer generated animals that appeared seemed to highlight the point: "Move along, folks. Nothing to see here."