'The Greatest Showman' Review

Nominated For: Best Original Song "This is Me" (written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul).

The Greatest Showman is an original musical which gleefully gallivants around the big top to celebrate the birth of show-business and tell the rags-to-riches story of American showman, Phineas Taylor Barnum.

Before I begin, I'd like to preface my review with a few things that I feel are important to understanding my mindset entering The Greatest Showman. First of all, I love myself a good musical (which certainly factored into me falling head-over-heels for La La Land last year). Give me some solid song-and-dance numbers paired with a captivating story that features likable leads and I'm in. Therefore, I was sold when I saw the first trailer for The Greatest Showman. It was an original musical featuring a cast of talented A-list actors I'd dare to watch any day of the week, and to top thing off, Justin Paul and Benj Pasek (the lyricists of La La Land) were involved with the music. 

Despite my immense interest, I only got around to seeing The Greatest Showman yesterday due to the hustle and bustle of the holidays paired with an enormous outflow of film releases. One thing that completely took me by surprise though was seeing quite a few friends on social media glowing with praises for the circus musical and its superb soundtrack. I took the compliments with a grain of salt of course, because I wanted to form my own opinion, but it all sounded promising. I mention all of this because everything I'm about to say is going to sound incredibly nitpicky to those who liked the movie and it will probably be unpopular among my circle of friends otherwise. Before you start typing angry comments when you begin reading past this point though, just know I had a good time with it. 

With that being said, I think it's time I drop the circus act. Michael Gracey steps in as The Greatest Showman's ring leader for his directorial debut, and his lack of experience as a director was especially evident in regards to the film's amateur technical prowess (namely in the areas of sound editing, sound mixing, and visual effects). I'm sure some are probably groaning right now because they don't think that any of that matters so long as the music is good. 

To me though, one of the crucial qualities of a cinematic musical is sufficient sound mixing... and The Greatest Showman's sound mix was embarrassingly unbalanced. "Who cares?" and "What was wrong with it" you say? Well, I think it enhances the experience if you can distinguish and understand everything that's being said or sung without it being overpowered by the accompaniment. Another odd thing about myself that's important for the purposes of this review is that I actively avoid listening to soundtracks before seeing something like this in order to experience it all for the first time in the context it's meant to be heard. There were many moments throughout the film where I had no idea what was being sung because the accompaniment overcame the singer. I'd blame it on the theater's sound system, but it was evident that wasn't the case because there were times when the sound mix sounded just fine. I tried to ignore it, but it stuck out like a sore thumb when coupled with the unsatisfactory ADR (Audio Dubbed Replacement). 

On top of that, the CG used to create the lions and elephants was sorta shoddy at times. Like I mentioned in my Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle review, I'm not expecting War for the Planet of the Apes level visual effects from every film, but the animals were just distinctly fake looking and it was difficult to ignore. I would have preferred there just not been any animals considering hardly any of this was historically accurate anyways. 

I also felt that the script from Jenny Bicks and Bill Condon stumbled in its effort to spin an interesting narrative, and there were a few moments that left me scratching my head in confusion. It's not that I'm looking for a Shakespeare-level plot in this, but I felt the story was lacking in regards to character and substance. I didn't quite buy into P. T. Barnum's redemption arc towards the end, the romance between Zac Efron's Phillip Carlyle and Zendaya's Anne Wheeler could have used a little more attention, and the "freaks and curiosities" felt like an afterthought. 

Now that I've gotten most of my negatives out of the way, let's talk about what I liked. Cinematographer, Seamus McGarvey, did a swell job capturing some showy imagery, the production design and costuming are quite good, the dance choreography was impressive, and the original songs from Justin Paul and Benj Pasek are spectacular on their own. The sound mix is much better on the actual soundtrack, so I don't really know what happened there...

As for the ensemble, Hugh Jackman has proven himself to be an extraordinary performer in the past, and his turn as Barnum is no exception. Jackman simply lights up the screen with an unmatched enthusiasm and committed charisma that's rare to find in actors nowadays. It's a resolute representation of his abilities, but not quite on the level of what he demonstrated earlier this year in Logan, so it's a shame this one seems to be earning more awards acclaim. 

Michelle Williams, Austyn Johnson, and Cameron Seely are great as Barnum's wife and children, but they aren't afforded much to do beyond what you'd expect for their characters. They each have their moments in the spotlight, but this is the Jackman show, so the focus rarely leaves Barnum (if at all).

Zac Efron and Zendaya, both former Disney stars, make the most of their respective roles and are incredibly entertaining in the capacity used. I didn't quite latch onto their romantic connection, but I think that could have easily been enhanced with more screen-time to flesh out their relationship. Amongst the circus troupe, Keala Settle stood out most as the bearded lady, Lettie Lutz, thanks to her spectacular song "This Is Me." Otherwise, I'm drawing a blank trying to think of any other individuals in that group who made much of an impression on me.

Rebecca Ferguson, who astounded everyone with her breakout stint in Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation two years ago, surprised me once again with some sensational singing here. Her character comes and goes quite quickly, but I'm glad she was involved because it only increased my interest in the future of her career.

The Greatest Showman appropriately recaptures the experience of attending a circus. There's plenty of showy spectacle to distract you from the humdrum of life, but not too much substance underneath it all. However, I must say "come one, come all!" to fellow musical fanatics! You'll certainly be entertained.

Film Assessment: B-