Please go to Google, then type "Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus" in the image search field. You will see dancers and clowns wearing colorful costumes, animals performing attractions, stage with a lively artistic order. The circus has stopped operating since May 21, 2017. The film debuted director Michael Gracey is trying to turn a similar splendor on the big screen, throwing the audience to 146 years ago when P. T. Barnum founded Ringling Bros.. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, also called "The Greatest Show on Earth", Rather than authenticity, the Barnum show (played by Hugh Jackman through unchallenged charisma) puts the magic behind the public to be stunned, dazzled, laughing. "Your audience is happier when you come out than when you get in," says Phillip Carlyle (Zac Efron), the playwright who will become Barnum's partner. Festive and fun entertainment. That's the goal, no matter though a little trick needs to be applied: lumping a man's stomach with a pillow, putting stilts on the man's highest leg. Not entirely fraudulent, just exaggerating in the name of entertainment.

The Greatest Showman carries the same goal, so the musical is the right choice, because the formulaik biopic will not be able to represent the orgy in the Barnum stage. To achieve its goal, Pasek & Paul wrote songs staged with stomping, boisterous by instruments as well as the vocal rumble of the cast. The film realizes the potential to be a festive entertainment, making it strive (always) to pursue the festivity since The Greatest Show as the opening number rings, rather than sorting by emotional precision. The row of songs that are like a versionoverproduced from Fall Out Boy are hard to distinguish from one another too polished too smoothly in the studio, tipping off the original emotions of the actor.

It is undeniable that the decorative décor that paints the circus at the peak of its popularity invites clicking awe. Seamus McGarvey's aerial cinematography (Atonement, The Avengers) has more than enough imagery to realize visionary performance of P. T. Barnum. The range of players is also full of totality handling the complexity of each choreography. Zendaya as Anne, a trapeze artist, is easy to fall in love with, while Lettie Lutz the Bearded Woman invites us to cheer for her call. But imagine watching La La Land consisting entirely of epilogue moments. Phenomenal, but the magic does not work maximally when presented continuously.

This Is Me and Rewrite the Stars are the most successful musical numbers, because they contain more than splendor: against segregation and expression of love. Barnum and his wife Charity (Michelle Williams) talks about love, but the full moon in the sky and the dance of Williams through the sheets of white sheets are not as intimate or romantic as the exchange of flavors Anne and Phillip. Anne floated lightly on the ceiling, as if she wanted to fly away from Phillip, but her gaze was hard to escape from a distinguished white man. While Phillip continues to struggle to reach his love.

The manuscripts by Jenny Bicks and Bill Condon may not provide space to permeate the ups and downs of Barnum's tumultuous life as well as controversy, but enough to make the audience as understanding. He collects marginalized people, providing them with the opportunity to be highlighted like a star, because he himself is underestimated. She fought for reluctance to see her beloved daughters as miserable as she was, though this dragged Barnum on the dark side of her success. Barnum presents entertainment, invites the audience to laugh, tired of finding a daily life that is constrained by the gloom.

RATING (7,9/10)

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