I am not a big fan of musical films. I always get tired of them and switch them off early. This was even true when I was at first excited that one of my all time favorite Broadway musicals, Les Miserables, was turned into a big-budget movie. Therefore, I came into this expecting to not like it. I liked it.

Hugh Jackman stars as P.T. Barnum, who I am certain most people can remember, was the pioneer of the a new form of entertainment in what would eventually be called the Barnum and Bailey circus. As a child we looked forward to this exact company coming to Nebraska every year. It was really something else. I don't know if there are any pictures of these events, i presume there are, but this was long before digital cameras existed so you'll just have to take my word for it.

I nearly turned the movie off because the musical numbers happen very frequently and like i said, I am not a fan of this sort of thing. However, the songs are actually pretty good and even though I am a metal fan i found them to be wonderfully written.

I would imagine that the choreography was incredibly difficult to pull off and I would actually be interested to know how long it took them to work that out. I would image a long time. Some of the CGI is pretty poor such as when the elephants and tigers are put into sequences, but that is easy to look past as it is only part of the film for a few minutes.

The movie received some negative press because the movie doesn't follow the real-life story of Barnum very closely at all. I was (and still am) unaware of the real history, but i suppose for the average audience member it doesn't really matter since I don't think the intention was ever to turn this musical into a historically accurate musical-biopic. Sometimes I think real critics are trying too hard to be harsh on a film.

Whatever, these producers cried all the way to the bank because the film grossed $440 million on a budget of just over $80 million.

If you find musical / dance films to be stupid, give this one a shot anyway, because i hate them, and I enjoyed this film. I did dock a few points because the movie drags on at parts and I have to admit that I skipped a little bit of it.

7 / 10

Name: The Greatest Showman (film): Much better than i expected
Item: The Greatest Showman
Rating: 70
Author: @gooddream

Comments · 10

@nuthman(74)· 2884d

To be perfectly honest, I generally hate musicals. I find this style of singing to be fake and obnoxious. But I have to say, I made an exception for this one. I pretty much loved the whole thing. Yeah, the CG was kinda lame but the songs were great, the singers were awesome and the performances were very emotional and authentic.

I won't be going out to see the new Mary Poppins or anything, but this movie showed me that it is possible to make a musical entertaining for a hater like me!

@bharat273(45)· 2885d

Hiii...gooddream

Great Post with Great Information

@cellvation(52)· 2885d

Wasn't sure about this either, as I too am not a musical fan. Thanks for your help, I'll give it a go!

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@rodneysreviews(53)· 2886d

The critics who didn't like this were applying ridiculous standards, as if a popular musical could or should be a psychological "King of Comedy" style deconstruction of a showman.

In fact, this is the most significant movie musical in many years, more so than "La La Land," which relied on mahoosive and over-hyped critical acclaim to pump up it's audience. By contrast, this movie ignored the critics, and simply gave the musical audience the kind of rousing old fashioned showmanship, entertaining self-actualizing lyrics and catchy melodic music that they craved.

In England, this movie was in the top 5 for four months or so, an unheard of success for ANY movie, let alone a musical, and the soundtrack was number one for three months, unheard of for 3 decades. A stupendous success!

This was a BOLD endeavor, costing $84 million, and stepping right on the toes of the 1980 Cy Coleman musical "Barnum," which told the exact same story, which I've seen twice in revival, and which has the exact same beats and plot points. In one respect, this movie fails to live up to Coleman, his exuberant "Come Follow the Band" being a song that really made you want to leap up onstage and join the circus! It was a communal celebration of joy.

By contrast, this movie is more about the self, celebrating the individual, rather than the enterprise. The brilliant "This is Me" is the poster song for the identity affirming theme of the show,. Though I like it slightly less than "Come Follow the Band," the across the board strength of all the songs here put together actually outdo Coleman, as every song here is impactful and memorable.

One flaw of this movie though, and it is in keeping with it's ego-affirming theme, is that although the songs all sound fantastic, they are mostly static, in that they do not advance the plot, or develop character, rather they are lingering illustrations of what we already know. For that reason, if you are not a musical nut, some of the songs risk being boring.

The most crypto of the songs ("Towers of gold are still too little, These hands could hold the world but it'll Never be enough") is also one the best: "Never Enough." Although a placeholder of a song, sung by Jenny Lind in performance, it fully encapsulates the striving perfectionism of Barnum, the way great ambition, great achievements and great love simply spark the appetite, and inflame even more desire, with no end but death. In songs like this one, the musical succeeds in saying something deeper than simply the truism: "Be yourself."

Hugh Jackman is a great entertainer, a Broadway guy even before a movie star, and he OWNED this movie. I can't imagine who else could have so convincingly have embodied a shit and a showman and yet have you rooting for them every step of the way!

I don't mind admitting I love musicals, as I love stories and I love music, and this movie makes me glad as it puts the audience (who want pleasure) before the critics (who want education), and gives them something to love.

For example, for me, the song "A Million Dreams" encapsulates the ambitions of everyone, in crypto, and in the world, who hasn't given up: "Every night I lie in bed, the brightest colors fill my head, a million dreams are keeping me awake." :)

@wstanley226(59)· 2886d

It was better than I thought too. Had some depth to the characters. Following.

@techbuzz07(53)· 2886d

@gooddream Not watched yet because it's musical movie. But after reading your review I am going to watch this by end of this week..

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@kofibeatz(52)· 2886d

I remember this movie. I used to hate musicals, but nowadays I tolerate those with this kind of quality and narrative..

@babarmallah786(43)· 2886d

Amazing

@joshsmith(7)· 2886d

“The greatest Showman” is a great a82ee8a4ee179e54beacaecce0423cb2 cornball PG musical this is also a scintillatingly flashy — and woke! — immersion in b9afd14b5dfedbeb0d7b57e6fb9a18bd razzmatazz. It takes the existence of P.T. Barnum, the something-goes circus impresario of the 1800s, who is performed with impossible to resist effervescence by means of Hugh Jackman, and turns him into a saintly huckster-maestro who invented the spirit of cutting-edge showbiz by means of bold up to date follow his dream. on the identical time, the film takes Barnum’s noupup to the moment trust-it-or-no longer sights — Tom Thumb, canine Boy, Tatup-to-the-minuteo man, the Bearded lady — and makes them over inup to the moment upup to the moment enlightened outcasts, a kind of nineteenth-century freak-display gallery of identification politics.

@vintageverve(51)· 2886d

Anything from Hugh Jackman is my thing.