The Greatest Showman Movie Review

The Greatest Showman (2017)

Buy The Greatest Showman on Amazon Video
Written by: Jenny Bicks and Bill Condon (screenplay by), Jenny Bicks (story by)
Directed by: Michael Gracey
Starring:  Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams, Zac Efron, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson
Rated: PG
Watch the trailer

Plot
Behind "The Greatest Show on Earth" was one of history's greatest showmen, P.T. Barnum. This musical biopic centers on the visionary who rose from nothing to create a show that became a sensation worldwide.

Verdict
An entertaining movie that makes the greatest show visceral through musical numbers. The movie becomes a show, and it has a couple of catch songs. It's also a story of an upstart businessman's successes and failures. He dreamed big and accomplished a lot, but his desire for acceptance definitely had a cost.
While society's acceptance, or lack, of individuals that are different is explored, Barnum is the main focus though this bends the facts to fit the movie.
Watch it.

Review
An engrossing opening shows us what this movie is. It's a musical that attempts to dazzle by bending reality. We see an impeccably choreographed dance before a transition to the past that is well done. Did Barnum really dream of being a ring master as a child?

The story is only inspired by Barnum. The movie streamlines and alters quite a bit for the story. It felt that way while watching with his hard luck beginnings and forbidden romance with a high society girl. A little bit of research confirms that. This isn't a fact oriented reveal like The Founder (read my review).

Barnum bets the farm on a wax museum before moving to live exhibits. He finds unique and skilled people, called "freaks" by some characters in the movie, and creates a must see show. Part of what drives him is the chip on his shoulder to prove to everyone, and his father in law, that he can be successful. That same drive is what propels him to prove he didn't succeed on the gimmick of his circus. He discovers opera singer Jenny Lind and sees promoting her shows as a way to be legitimate. Of course what drives him proves to be part of his downfall. He not only ignores the circus and performers, but insults them by barring them from mingling with the high society he desperately desires to join.

 

There is a big push about how Barnum accepted everyone, ignoring social constricts. While he did that, his treatment of the performers while he was trying to climb the social ladder is telling. There's a side story about a socially forbidden romance that bolsters the theme, but it becomes overly manipulative. It does help to depict the mindset of society at the time

There are frequent musical numbers, and while I don't typically like that style of movie. It works in this. The movie is a show in of itself. This showmanship links the movie to what Barnum wanted to create. The movie becomes the show. A couple of songs were definitely stuck in my head a couple of days later.

The depiction of Jenny Lind and Barnum's relationship isn't accurate. She quit the tour as she had grown tired of the press and media during the tour. Barnum's promotion was so good, that she was a star before the tour even started.