The Greatest Show
The Greatest Showman | Michael Gracey
Drama/Romance | PG | 1hr 46m
The Greatest Showman is a musical masterpiece that tells the story of the creation of Barnum & Bailey Circus. The film begins with P.T. Barnum as a young boy and the struggles he faced growing us as a tailors boy. He falls in love with the daughter of the family he works for and although she gets sent to finishing school, the two send letters to keep in touch. The film then jumps to the two as adults, they eventually get married and have two beautiful daughters. The family struggles with money until the bank loans them $10,000 and they purchase a museum. Originally it is a museum of wax figures until his daughters tell him he needs something alive, something “sensational”. This is when he gets the idea and starts searching the city for unique people. It’s not until after a critic gives him a bad review that he calls it a circus.
The film is obviously based on a true story however there are many parts that are changed or strictly not true for the purpose of the film. The character Phillip Carlyle is made up (however is partly based on James Anthony Bailey), as is the African-American trapeze artist Anne Wheeler. And although their love story is made up, I love their addition to the story. Their interracial relationship shows us just how unaccepted African-Americans were by society in the 1870's.
Hugh Jackman stars as Phineas Taylor Barnum. Although, we know him better as Wolverine, Hugh Jackman is not only the mutant with giant retractable claws. Jackman showed us that he can also sing, winning him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and his first Golden Globe for Best Actor, in the film Les Miserables. Jackman has starred in 10 different X-Men and Wolverine films (including the films Logan and Deadpool).
The film was written by Bill Condon and Jenny Bicks. Both Bicks and Condon have had experiences writing musicals before. Bicks wrote Rio 2, the Blue Sky Studios animated cartoon of the story of 2 blue macaws. Condon, on the other hand, has been involved with many musicals. These include Chicago in 2002, Dreamgirls in 2006, and the recent live action Beauty and the Beast. Together, the 2 created a wonderfully written and beautifully sounding film.
If you enjoyed this film just as much as I did then I would recommend these other musical drama films. These include Les Miserables (starring Jackman along with Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, and Amanda Seyfried), La La Land (starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone), or the Jersey Boys (which stars John Lloyd Young and Christopher Walken).
On average, the critics rated The Greatest Showman about a 50% or 5/10 however, I would completely disagree with this. I believe that the whole story behind the film was brilliant and really brings you into the world of the circus. This is a film that you can see over and over again and not get tired of it.
