The Greatest Showman is a biographical musical from the songwriters of La La Land that stars Hugh Jackman as P.T. Barnum, who starts out as a penniless orphan but becomes the world-renowned creator of the circus. There's a bit of language ("damn," the racial slur "spooks," "oh God!," etc.) and violence (protesters burn down the circus, a man slaps a young boy), as well as some drama surrounding the movie's interracial romance, which was taboo at the time. But overall the plot and songs are easy enough for tweens to follow -- and with Zendaya and Zac Efron co-starring, the movie is likely to appeal to them. Although it's based on factual events, the movie only covers a short period in Barnum's life and glosses over certain aspects of his career. It's not garnering the same kind of acclaim as La La Land, but The Greatest Showman's charming leads and circus scenes should make it a fun pick for families who enjoy history, musical theater, and, of course, the circus.The film is directed by Michael Gracey, who debuted with this title after some time working in the visual effects department of several productions such as "Cubbyhouse" (2001), "Shuang tong" (2002), "Ned Kelly" (2003) or "The Magician" (2005). In the cast of the film there are a lot of stars headed by Hugh Jackman as the circus showman and businessman. Rounding out the cast are Rebecca Ferguson, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams and the actress and singer Zendaya.
WHAT'S THE STORY? THE GREATEST SHOWMAN is a biographical musical about young Phineas T. Barnum's life as a child, entrepreneur, museum owner, circus producer, and entertainment producer. As a young boy, Phineas "Finn" (Ellis Rubin), the son of a tailor, meets Charity (Skylar Dunn), the daughter of one of his father's wealthy clients. He makes her laugh and earns a slap from her father for it, but the spark between them lasts throughout their adolescence, even while she's away at boarding school and he's an orphan in the streets. Years later, Finn and Charity (now played by Hugh Jackman and Michelle Williams) marry and have two girls. He manages to secure a loan to open up a museum of oddities, and when that starts to fail, he's inspired by a brief encounter with a little person to invite unusual-looking folks -- including bearded lady Letty Lutz (Keala Settle), Tom Thumb (Sean Humphrey), and black brother-and-sister trapeze artists W.D. Wheeler (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) and Anne Wheeler (Zendaya) -- to join a show focused around them. With a little embellishment from costumes and makeup, he opens what will become the first circus. Although Barnum's show is critically panned, the masses love it. He earns a fortune, but Barnum can't stop looking for approval from the upper crust.
MOVIE INFO Rating: PG (for thematic elements including a brawl) Genre: Drama, Musical & Performing Arts Directed By: Michael Gracey Written By: Jenny Bicks, Bill Condon In theaters: December 20, 2017 Runtime: 105 minutes Music: John Debney, Benj Pasek y Justin Paul Studio: 20th Century Fox Cast: Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams, Zac Efron, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Diahann Carroll, Fredric Lehne, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Isaac Eshete, Katrina E. Perkins, John Druzba
Source: CommonSenseMedia
