The Greatest Showman: My Movie Review

WARNING: Spoilers ahead!!!

The Greatest Showman is a 2017 American film categorized into a musical drama genre and inspired by the story of one of the world’s greatest showmen named P. T. Barnum, the founder of the Barnum & Bailey Circus as well as the lives of its star attractions.  Believe it or not, this film was premiered aboard the the largest transatlantic ocean liner known as RMS Queen Mary 2 on December 8, 2017. The film was released on December 20, 2017 by the 20th Century Fox in the United States. With just a production budget of $84 million, you wouldn’t believe that it grossed for a whooping $415.3 million worldwide, making it the fifth highest grossing live-action musical film of all time. 

Oscar nominee and 26-time award-winning Australian actor Hugh Jackman (Logan & Wolverine of X-Men movies/ Jean Valjean of Les Miserables/ Blackbeard of Pan/ Chappie of Vincent Moore/ Bunny of Rise of the Guardians/ Charlie Kenton of Real Steel/ Drover of Australia/ Memphis of Happy Feet/ Van Helsing of Van Helsing) played his role as the ambitious showman and entrepreneur named Phineas Taylor Barnum. The young actor who played the role of young P.T. Barnum was American actor Ellis Rubin (Howie Plugh of Linda from HR). Twenty-time award-winning American actor Zac Efron (Troy Bolton of High School Musical/ Mike O’Donnell of 17 Again/ Link Larkin of Hairspray/ Matt Brody of Baywatch/ Logan of The Lucky One) played his role as the playwright named Phillip Carlyle who later becomes Mr. Barnum’s business partner.

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Oscar nominee and 39-time award-winning American actress Michelle Williams (Marilyn Monroe of My Week with Marilyn/ Cindy of Blue Valentine/ Randi Chandler of Manchester by the Sea/ Elaine of Wonderstruck/ Annie & Glinda of Oz the Great and Powerful/ Dolores of Shutter Island/ Alma of Brokeback Mountain/ young Sil of Species/ April Porter of Lassie) played her role as the wife of Mr. Barnum named as Charity Hallett Barnum. Young Charity was played by American actress Skylar Dunn (Susan of Orange is the New Black/ Emily of Altered Hours).

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Golden Globe nominee and 4 -time award-winning Swedish actress Rebecca Ferguson (Ilsa Faust of Mission: Impossible — Fallout/ Miranda North of Life/ Anna of The Girl on the Train/ Ergenia of Hercules/ Queen Elizabeth of The White Queen) played her role as Jenny Lind, the famous Swedish operatic singer known by others as The Nightingale.

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Five-time award-winning American actress Zendaya (Michelle of Spiderman Homecoming/ KC Cooper & Bernice of KC Undercover/ Zoey Stevens of Zapped/ Rocky Blue of Shake It Up) played her role as the acrobatic performer of trapeze named Anne Wheeler of W.D.’s sister. She is also the love interest of Philip Carlyle.

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Young American actress Austyn Johnson (Marina Bradlee of The Post/ Jill of Kevin Can Wait) and young American actress Cameron Seely (Mary of The Jim Gaffigan Show/ Annie Adams of Madam Secretary) played their roles respectively as Caroline and Helen Barnum, the two daughters of Mr. Barnum. 

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American actress Keala Seattle (Sharon of Ricki and the Flash/ Mandy of The Big C) played her role as a bearded lady who can sing very well hitting high notes with her unusual voice. She played by the character named Lettie Lutz. 

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Australian actor Sam Humphrey (Jai of Jeremy the Dud/ James Udagawa of Neighbours) played his role as Charles Stratton, who is a dwarf performer known by his stage name Tom Thumb.

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The movie is packed with inspiring songs that you will really exactly relate if you just understand the predicament of each character in the story. There were 9 songs all written by American songwriting duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. The soundtrack album “The Greatest Showman” that was featured in the film features exactly 11 tracks including the performance of the cast. And did you know that in UK, it became the second album in 30 years to achieve an 11 consecutive weeks being at top spot?  It now draws level with “21”, Adele’s best-selling album, for the longest unbroken run at UK Summit in the last 30 years.  

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The film has also won an award for Best Grownup Love Story in AARP’s Movies for Grownups Awards, Best Original Song – Motion Picture for a song “This Is Me” by  Benj Pasek and Justin Paul at Golden Globe Awards, whereas this song was also a nominee at Oscar Awards for Best Original Song (only that Remember Me by songwriters Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez won the award from the animated film Coco).

The Greatest Showman has received a lot of mixed reviews, including the performance of Hugh Jackman, the music and production value, though criticism was aimed at the artistic license taken, and some reviewers calling it “faux-inspiring and shallow”. Nevertheless the film has received nominations at 75th Golden Globe Awards and 90th Oscar Awards. 

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Based on a review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. the film has an approval rating of 55% out of 204 reviews, and an average rating of 6/10. The website’s critical consensus also reads, 

“The Greatest Showman tries hard to dazzle the audience with a Barnum-style sense of wonder – but at the expense of its complex subject’s far more intriguing real-life story.”

Whilst  on another film reviewer site called Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 48/100, based on 43 critics, indicating “mixed or average reviews”. While it earned a 70% “definite recommend” from comScore, on the other hand, audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of “A” on an A+ to F scale. IMDb (also known as Internet Movie Database) gave the film 7.8/10 for its star-ranking. Britton Peele of The Dallas Morning News said,

“The story is interesting and the beats are well-acted, but it’s the musical numbers that make The Greatest Showman.”

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In my own personal thoughts, insights, and review, The Greatest Showman is indeed one of the most spectacular shows ever produced and made to hit in big screens worldwide, thus epitomising it into a musical film. It’s just like watching in a stage theatre only that the stories of the cast were even made vivid and more compelling. Beforehand, I even don’t know who P.T. Barnum is, or was, but I only seen his name in some books I’ve read. But when I saw this film, I can recognise him now as well as his hardwork and superb entity as one of the historical figures in the world of entertainment and circus show. His ups and downs, struggles, and perseverance were told in this inspiring film too.

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This film also features strange people with unusual talents that made them all gathered by P.T. Barnum thus making his name more famous and making their career successful and exceptional too, that made their show squad rose to fame. This film is good for kids, though there were scenes that need some quite of parental guidance. This is one of the most remarkable films I’ve ever watched these days. Truly inspiring, spectacular, grand, and exceptional. Never ever miss to watch this one as I strongly recommended. If I were to rate this film from 1-10, I give this film an undoubtedly score of 8.5/10. Hats-off!

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If you haven’t watched this movie yet, just check out its trailer below: 

Featured Image: source