The Greatest Showman

The Greatest Showman is a 2017 musical starring Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson, and Zendaya. It is a highly fictionalized story about the life and career of P.T. Barnum. The creator of Barnum and Bailey’s Circus. It’s not historically accurate, seeing as there are a lot of things that P.T. Barnum did in his career that were morally unethical, to say the least. The movie paints him in a much more favorable light, for the sake of making a profitable movie, probably. And also, because songs about fraud and slavery would be depressing in a musical. 

Aside from the accuracy of the content, though, it is a highly entertaining movie. Hugh Jackman might just be one of the greatest showmen there is. He can dance, he can sing, and he’s such a great actor. You have to give it to the guy. He’s good at what he does. He actually had nasal surgery just before making this movie, and his doctors advised him not to sing while he was healing. But he sang at the readthrough with the producers anyway, helping the movie get the greenlight.  

The soundtrack is a big part of this movie, seeing as it is a musical. And the songs are all wonderful. Not exactly my preferred style of music, but in this context, I enjoyed all of them very much. Along with the choreography of all of the people in the movie, it’s an impressive piece of cinematic work, finely crafted and put together in just the right amounts to make it fly right by. Which is how you know a movie is good. When it’s over really fast, and then you learn that it’s actually longer than you thought it was. 

Aside from the soundtrack and choreography, which are both very impressive, I think the story is well written, despite how inaccurate it might actually be. It’s the kind of story that makes you feel good. I don’t usually watch movies like that. I watch a lot of comedies. Dark comedies. Comedies that don’t necessarily make you feel good, but are funny. This story doesn’t make you laugh. It’s more of an uplifting feeling. It’s nice to see something like that once in a while.  

So, yeah. Go and see The Greatest Showman. It’s not exactly the greatest show on Earth. But it’s a good movie, and you’re on Earth. That’s kind of the same thing. You see what I’m getting at… And as always, keep on watching, with a smile on your face…