The Greatest Showman Review

"The Noblest art is that of making others happy!"


The Greatest Showman was directed by Michael Gracey and stars the likes of the one and only Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams, Zac Efron, Zendaya, Rebecca Furguson, Cameron Seely and Keala Settle. The film follows and celebrates the birth of show business and tells the story of a visionary named P.T.Barnum, who rose from nothing to create a spectacle that becomes a world sensation.

The Greatest Showman is such a feel good film, with such a great soundtrack (So catchy!) that it will leave the songs stuck in your head for weeks to come. One of the strongest aspect of the film is of course its musical set pieces, from its stunning opening number to its smaller more intimate songs and musical set pieces set though out of the film. Credit is due to the director Michael Gracey who really brings a sense of spectacle to the films musical set pieces, and really allows the musical numbers to encase the characters emotional state during moments in the film, which enhances the sheer power and effect that the musical numbers have on the audience members (so powerful!). Credit is also due to films great cast, whilst it is not exactly the most fleshed out three dimensional cast that we have seen (will move on to that later), the film does have an exceptionally talented cast, and stars like Hugh Jackman (what can't he do!) literally steals the lime light as the main character P.T.Barnum, but credit is also due to Zac Efron, Zendaya, Michelle Williams and Rebecca Furguson who all give great performances and all drive the story forward (in their own ways!), which allows the film to follow many different aspects and story lines, weaving them together to set the characters on an interesting journey together. The Greatest Showman also has such an important message to convey about accepting people for who they are, and never judging a book by its cover, and in a world ever moving forward and changing, these values are extremely important to hold onto, and this film really stands strong on these values and brings home the importance of these values.

Whilst The Greatest Showman is without a doubt a spectacle film with some stunning musical set pieces, but the film also does have its share of problems as well. One of my biggest issues with the film is how overall rushed it feels. After the first stunning musical number (so stunning) we are introduced to the two of the main characters of the film, and in the space of five minutes we are given such a rushed back story, that it really does not allow for any real sense of connection to the characters except for a base emotion of feeling happy for them as they start their lives together in love. This is not just the case of that moment in the film, but happens throughout of the film, making the film feel rushed. Even characters who are introduced to perform in the show created by P.T.Brnum are not fleshed out at all (I know you can't flesh out every character), but hardly any time in the film are we given or shown anything that actually resembles a back story to the characters, resulting in a large number of characters that we have a limited emotional connection to. In my opinion the film could have been a bit longer even a half hour longer, and this time could of been spent fleshing out the characters whilst keeping the exceptional showmanship and stunning musical numbers.

Overall I enjoyed The Greatest Showman, the film has some truly great and inspirational musical set pieces and carries some strong morals and important messages about acceptance and never judging a book by its cover which we should all adopt into our lives. If you go and see The Greatest Showman you will leave the cinema with a buzz, feeling good and with catchy songs in your head, but don't expect lots of detailed highly fleshed out characters.

Verdict: 4 out 5 stars