The Greatest Showman Review
I'm not THAT guy. Seriously, I'm not. Please don't say I'm THAT guy.
The Greatest Showman is a movie that advertises itself as the story of P.T. Barnum, the creator of The Greatest Show On Earth. I always thought that the timing of this film's release was odd, considering that The Greatest Show had its last show months before the film's release. Since this is based on history, I expected that this would at least TRY to be accurate. However, The Greatest Showman does something I never thought any movie would do: it actively tries to NOT be historically accurate. There are true story movies I've seen that are based on stories WAY more bizarre than this that manage to be more accurate. This movie takes what's called "artistic license", or distortion of fact "in the name of art" (Wikipedia's words, not mine). Many films do this (that awful Titanic movie that everyone loves comes to mind immediately), but they do it to different extents. I honestly think the creators of this film didn't really care how much they distorted history.
First of all, P.T. Barnum was not a great man. He just wasn't. Despite what this movie tells you, he did some pretty bad stuff. I noticed how the movie left out some notable details of his show. Like how he specifically manipulated racial prejudice at the time to draw people to his show. Or that he used blackface in his acts. Or that, I kid you not, he owned a slave which he claimed was 161 years old and was the nurse of George Washington. And he had a fake autopsy for this woman when she died, to play along with the lies he told. Also, he never (almost) had an affair with the Swedish singer. That didn't even remotely happen. She just ended her ties with him simply because she didn't like him. And thus, she is the VILLAIN of the movie! Also, I guess Zac Efron is supposed to be Bailey (as in Barnum Bailey), but for some reason they changed his name? And Zendaya's character just doesn't exist. Like, at all. Maybe there were similar acts in the circus, but she wasn't real. I could drone on about these things for paragraphs upon paragraphs, but I don't want to. I want to talk about my opinion of this flick. In short, that man in the film is not P.T. Barnum.
That man potrayed in the film is none other than Huge Ackman (who actually seems like a nice guy in real life).
That's his name. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
Anyway, you might notice I made this review a lot more humorous than my review of A Quiet Place. That's because I analyzed the deep and complex themes of that movie in great detail. And because this is essentially a drama (in musical form albiet), I really looked for these themes harder. As for themes like that in The Greatest Showman? Well......I couldn't really find any. Listen, the messages about family and love are sweet and all, but they're kinda cookie-cutter. For me to call a movie a masterpiece, I need a little bit more substance to the themes. Take my favorite musical of all time, La La Land, for example (spoilers for that movie ahead). It has deep themes about happiness among other things, in that both of the main characters do end up having success in their dream careers, but one is left longing for the life he could've had while the other is satisfied with her choices. It's also about acceptance of said choices, where both characters, at the end of the movie, see how each one's lives turned out and simply smile and wish the best of luck (this really makes me wanna do a full La La Land review in the future). The Greatest Showman is not trying to be a complex movie and simply doesn't provide enough substance for me to get full enjoyment out of it. With that being said, can I actually enjoy this movie?
ABSOLUTELY I CAN!
Don't get me wrong, the movie is not in any way demanding cinema, but it's so fun to watch! I had almost no expectations for this movie because I thought it was some non-historical musical that I would be annoyed by (I'm not at all a fan of musicals btw. I was very reluctant to give La La Land a chance for a while. And I love that movie). And while I was right about the historical aspect of this film, I was not annoyed by it at all. In fact, while I was watching it, I really started to enjoy it. The music is amazing; some of the best I've seen in a musical. I might actually argue that I like The Greatest Showman soundtrack more than the one for La La Land. The plot is entertaining (despite it not being real 😒) and the cast is phenomenal. Everyone seems to be having a blast making the movie and that alone is something I can really respect about this film. In terms of likeability, The Greatest Showman excells and I highly recommend watching it if you simply wanna have a good time and listen to some great music.
This is a very fun film to watch and while I wish it had a little bit more substance, I will definitely watch it again in the future.
SCORE: 7/10
Once again, thanks for reading this review and if you want to discuss this film or have any recommendations for me (Good or bad, I'm up for the challenge!), leave your thoughts in the comment section. Have a nice day!
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