The Greatest Showman Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of P.T. Barnum (Hugh Jackman), who founded one of the greatest circus acts ever, becoming one of the most influential entertainers of our time.
The Greatest Showman is worth the price of admission due to how damn good these songs are. I’m sure every single review for this movie has said the same, but it’s the truth. I suppose you could just buy the soundtrack on iTunes (which is what I did for Tron: Legacy), but there’s something to be said for getting this experience on the big screen.
The movie opens up with a bang. The first half hour moves at a frenetic pace. Unfortunately, it treats the story like a sprint, not a marathon. While the first half hour is wildly entertaining, it hits an absolute wall. The character arc of P.T. Barnum becomes painfully by the numbers, but at least we have the legend that is Hugh Jackman to keep us happy.
Hugh Jackman was born to play this role. P.T. Barnum was the ultimate entertainer, and that’s exactly what Jackman is in this movie. Jackman ignites the screen with incredible energy, as if you were turning on your Christmas lights for the first time. Nobody else could have played this role. The end.
The film does a great job of setting up the character and his world. It feels like a classic musical of a man with poor beginnings who rises to the top. They also do a great job of engrossing you into the romance between him and Charity (Michelle Williams), who becomes his wife. Charity is from great wealth, but Barnum courts her when he’s a kid, introducing us to one of the big show stoppers of the film early on (“A Million Dreams”). The kids who play Barnum and Charity, Ellis Rubin and Skylar Dunn respectfully, also do a splendid job.
As Barnum begins to recruit for his show, he rounds up his exotic personalities of oddities, which is also entertaining. There’s a lot of cast members here who do a great job, but the two stand outs are Keala Settle who plays Lettie (The Bearded Lady), and Zendaya, who plays one of the trapeze artists, who also develops a romance with Zac Efron’s character, Phillip Carlyle.
Efron continues his rise in Hollywood, showing once again how underrated he is. His character is recruited by Barnum in an effort to legitimize his show, as Carlyle has ties to high society. He plays off Zendaya and Jackman beautifully, as him and Jackman easily have one of the better numbers in the movie when Barnum recruits him (“The Other Side”).
While the first half pacing is seamless, the movie stops dead half way through. Barnum’s arc is so predictable and paint by numbers, you’re just waiting to hit all the notes and wrap it up. He’s poor. Wife loves him no matter what. He’s got big ideas. Makes his fortune. Ego gets too big. Goes on a road trip and nearly falls in love with his new co-star (Rebecca Ferguson). Loses everything. Has to make amends and a comeback. You know the drill. I know that seems like spoiler territory, but if you’ve seen one movie ever, you know the deal ten minutes in. This wouldn’t be a problem if the movie was able to maintain its high energy, but it can’t sustain it. As good as the Barnum/Charity romance was early on, that also loses steam. Their later musical number even feels like filler.
The movie is also painfully repetitive. One of the big themes is all these “freaks” being ousted by society, but they learn not to hide, be proud of who they are, blah, blah, blah. You get the idea. That’s fine, but the film constantly keeps hitting this home. Even some of the songs on this get stale. There’s also some cringe-worthy, heavy handed dialogue from Zac Efron and a theater critic (Paul Sparks) that is like a Disney speech on steroids. Oy.
Despite the lull in the middle, this movie brings it home in the third act. The big comeback song (“From Now On”) is pretty damn spectacular. Despite its cliché nature, I give director Michael Gracey (directorial debut) a lot of credit for delivering some truly remarkable sequences. The editing is also pristine and should merit Oscar consideration. I can’t stress enough how good the music is. The entire soundtrack could make the Best Song Oscar list. I’m guessing “The Greatest Show,” which is the primary theme, will be a front-runner.
While flawed, there’s no way you won’t leave the theater in a good mood. Impossible. At the end of the day, this is pure entertainment, which I’m sure P.T. Barnum would have wanted.
Rating: 7 out of 10 (Good)
