Review of The Greatest Showman (2017) by Mrmoviebuff — 29 Dec 2017

I admired the production values behind 'The Greatest Showman' and I admired the committed performances from the cast. The big issue with this movie is that, it goes through every predictable cliche, and the message of the film does feel as if it is beating you over the head with it.

A very charismatic Hugh Jackman plays P.T. Barnum, who grew up with a somewhat hard childhood, where the only bright spot was that he once met the love of his life named Charity (Michelle Williams), but her parents never thought that he was good enough for her.

After getting a loan from the bank, and after working in jobs that had no secure future, Barnum decided to open up his own theater, which quickly became a circus after he hired a group of people who are considered "different" to be his acts.

Many audiences from the local town end up seeing these acts and love the entertainment that is shown, even if they think those part of the act are not normal enough for their society. Zac Efron is Barnum's trusted assistant, Phillip Carlyle, who develops a somewhat rushed infatuation with acrobat, Anne Wheeler (Zendaya), but his parents disapprove of their relationship, and I'm sure you can guess why.

I only disapprove of it because there was no development there, they just look at each other once, and that's it, they're in love. Again, I admire this movie for all the good intentions that it was made for.

I'm sure certain groups like the LGBT community will respond very well to this film and its message, and they should. They deserve a film like this, though, I feel that there are better alternatives where a similar message is told, just with a touch more subtlety.

Jackman carries this movie effortlessly, and proves that he has charisma and charm to pull this off. It's clearly the film he's always wanted to make, and he should be proud of the result. The musical numbers are catchy, too, the singing is great, and so is all the production values behind it.

It's just the predictable story and head-banging message that let it down.