The Greatest Showman

As the year in movies is quickly winding down, I am trying to watch all of the movies that I think have potential to make it on my Top 10 list for 2017. Unfortunately, I don’t have a ton of time on my hands so I am going to have to keep this rather brief. The Greatest Showman is a movie about the rise to fame of P.T. Barnum, the mind behind the creation of the first circus. The movie stars Hugh Jackman as P.T. Barnum, as well as Zac Efron and Zendaya as Phillip Carlyle and Anne Wheeler.

The Bad

I thought this film was just a little visually off for some reason and I can’t really figure out why. Nothing about this film really stuck out to me as spectacular looking, which is contrary to what I expected this movie to leave me with. There was some pretty awkward CGI that stuck out like a sore thumb from time to time that made the film seem less realistic or authentic.

The performances from Zac Efron and Zendaya just weren’t that great overall. They each had their good moments but I think Zac was a bit stiff and Zendaya had some scenes that were supposed to be emotional that just came across as weak acting.

The music, though extremely catchy, did not fit the time period in the slightest. This movie takes place in the mid-1800s and is about the circus. The music is more like modern-day pop music that you might hear on the radio. It took away from what was supposed to be based on a true story. In fact, I am willing to assume that most of the movie is fictional and am curious to know what elements actually happened.

The Good

I thought Hugh Jackman was really quite good in this movie. His character reminded me a lot of his character in the movie The Prestige, a movie directed by Christopher Nolan which I really enjoy.

I mentioned that the music didn’t fit the time frame, and while I stand by that statement, there were a couple very powerful musical sequences in this film that I did really enjoy. The songs were honestly some of the strongest scenes in the entire film and I kind of question why they even had as much regular dialogue filler as they did.

The Rating

This film is definitely not quite the blockbuster that I thought it could possibly be. It is fun enough that I think most people will be able to have a decent time with it and a few may even love it. The fact that I kept thinking to myself about how long the movie was, and then found out that it is only an hour and 45 minutes, is a bad sign about how well the movie kept my attention.

6.25/10

Update: I found the soundtrack on Spotify and I am really enjoying it. It doesn’t change my opinion on the movie but the soundtrack is super catchy at least!