Random Movie Review - The Greatest Showman

First of all, I hate anything that has a title that makes it out to be the best or greatest thing ever. I find it arrogant and its like its creators didn't take into consideration the competition. But that being said, there is no denying that P.T. Barnum (played by Wolverine himself, Hugh Jackman) is widely regarded as the greatest showman that ever lived even if the film isn't completely historically accurate. So its a film with a number of awards, but the critics had an issue with its artistic license as well as the fact that the director is a newbie. So let's see how this plays out:

So after a cleverly made logo sequence, the film begins with P.T. Barnum and his circus troupe perform a show. Then we go right into the past where a young Barnum (played by Ellis Rubin) falls in love with a girl called Charity (played by Michelle Williams as an adult and by Skylar Dunn as a child) of whom he eventually marries much to the denial of her abusive father who believes that he won't be a success and that she will leave him soon enough. Years go by and the couple reside in New York with their two daughters. Upon his place of employment becoming bankrupt, Barnum becomes desperate and using the power of a lie, he manages to open a museum which would eventually be the home of a group of circus freaks. Among them is a bearded lady (played by Keala Settle), an acrobat trapeze artist (played by Zendaya) of which Barnum's business partner Philip (played by Zac Efron) falls in love with and a whole host of other beings. The show they put on proves to be a success, but it isn't long before everything in Barnum's life goes downhill for better or worse.

There is no doubt that this is a great musical. The music is great and sang very well by everyone and the acting is pretty decent too. But putting historical inaccuracies aside, the film feels like its largely on a set with very little outdoor scenes and it becomes more obvious as the film goes on. And while I know this does take place at a time where equal rights were not a thing, I just hate it when people just don't treat others equally because they are different. Its also got a few noticeable cliches but even in a film that is about the greatest showman has its problems despite the name. Apart from all those things, its a very good film that has great musical numbers, very good acting as previously mentioned and a good story too even if its a familiar one at that. 8/10