It’s been a while since I did a movie review and I know I… um… actually promised this one a while back.

BUT IT’S HERE NOW EVERYONE

The Greatest Showman: Movie Review

Synopsis:

Orphaned, penniless but ambitious and with a mind crammed with imagination and fresh ideas, the American Phineas Taylor Barnum will always be remembered as the man with the gift to effortlessly blur the line between reality and fiction. Thirsty for innovation and hungry for success, the son of a tailor will manage to open a wax museum but will soon shift focus to the unique and peculiar, introducing extraordinary, never-seen-before live acts on the circus stage. Some will call Barnum’s wide collection of oddities, a freak show; however, when the obsessed for cheers and respectability showman gambles everything on the opera singer Jenny Lind to appeal to a high-brow audience, he will somehow lose sight of the most important aspect of his life: his family. Will Barnum risk it all to be accepted?

~from IMDb

 

Good stuff:

• Music

Well, I’m going to address the obvious thing first.

Guys, the music in this was incredible. That soundtrack will be loved by me for many years to come.

Honestly, I’d only really heard Hugh Jackman sing in Les Miserables and I was comparing him to the original London Cast recording and hated it just because he wasn’t what I knew before? But singing original songs . . . I retract my earlier prejudices against his voice. Forgive me, Mr. Jackman, you’re an absolutely gorgeous singer.

And really, they had so many good voices and so many good and different songs?

They took full advantage of the idea that songs are supposed to be plot points in musicals and the songs advanced the story and worked. So I liked that even more. (I think I was especially impressed with the way the song “Never Enough” perfectly wove together the thematic low point in the story with all the subplots together.)

Also, the kid in “A Million Dreams” has an incredible voice.

AND THERE WAS A PARTICULAR LINE ECHO RIGHT AT THE END THAT JUST . . .

-muffled squeak-

That was the closest I came to crying that whole movie. And it was happy tears.

 

• Family theme

Honestly, nowadays it’s really hard to find a story that places this high of value on traditional family. On fatherhood and happy marriage and kids and responsibility. And it was so gorgeously done.

It’s actually tied into the main theme and character arc of Barnum here! It’s literally a huge part of the story!

Seriously, this is one part I appreciate very, very much.

 

• Acting

They got a really good cast in this thing and they did a really good job okay? Hugh Jackman is . . . he’s him. He’s awesome inherently. All the supporting cast were great.

Personally, I had prejudices against Zac Efron because all I’d ever done was mock his fangirls and High School Musical in general from a distance.

Ha.

I won’t say I’ve totally come out of that yet, but I will say that I don’t turn up my nose at Zac Efron anymore. The man has skillz. He did a very good job with his character and has an amazing voice. (Small thing that I really liked the way he was able to but in these conversational little laughs into his singing in “The Other Side” and that was really awesome.)

 

• Beautiful

Just . . . in so many aspects. All the aspects. This movie was beautiful all around.

Beautiful costumes. Beautiful filming. Beautiful effects and settings. Beautiful theme representation. Beautiful people. Beautiful music.

It’s just a beautiful movie, guys.

A feast for your eyeballs. And your ears. And your . . . heart. I guess.

-too poetic, I’m stopping now-

 

Bad stuff:

• Immodest

This really isn’t a dealbreaker for our family and I don’t think it would be for the majority of people around here. But I’ll say it just cuz it’s there.

Got some pretty cleavage-y dresses on some of the girls. Very short skirts and skimpy outfits in general. Really not too horrible though, so . . .?

(let’s be honest, that dress was the biggest offender. yeesh.)

• Minor characters

Okay this is a writer nitpick and basically only made the post because I had such a pitiful amount of bad things to say about this movie.

Buuut I really would have liked to see a bit more backstory, closer development on more of the performers than just Anne? There was the bearded lady who got some development and Tom Thumb who got some backstory. But for the main part we just got to see who they were as people when Barnum is hiring them. And I didn’t even get anyone’s names aside from Anne’s and Tom’s, really. (Maybe this was just me being inattentive and distracted by all the pretty colors, idk.)

And okay I really do get they were limited on screentime and writing-wise, it was a good move, streamlining the story. But my non-writer side is still fussing that I didn’t get to see all the cool circus acts.

(just… look at all those people! I want to know their names and all of their beautiful stories!)

Overall:

A really good family musical that I highly recommend. At least give the soundtrack a listen.

 

SO

That’s my opinion. What did you think of The Greatest Showman? Have you watched it? Think you will?

That’s all for today, folks. See ya later. ❤

~writefury