The Greatest Showman (2017)'s comments

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CynInFlicks

Watchable for light and fluffy needs, but I had to mute all the songs.

2 years 8 months ago

8+/10
Damn what surprisingly good this musical was with the environment and clothes from the 19th century, but with modern music!! I can easily see this several times, preferably during the day with higher sound on and good soundbar system. Had I seen this on a stage, I would probably have given it the highest rating. The BD is really good looking at too though with a lot of color á la circus life.

4 years 5 months ago

panpeter1212

I don't normally enjoy musicals, but I LOVED this one. I was entertained from the first minute to the last. I bought the DVD and have watched it several times. I don't watch that many movies over and over like that. The music is really good and so is the cast. You can really tell they put their heart and soul into it. I give it an A+ and cannot say enough good things about it! One of my favorite movies of the year by far!

5 years 7 months ago

Jace Lightner

As I was watching this film, there seemed something extremely dodgy about P.T. Barnum, as portrayed by Hugh Jackman. The way he talked, the things he said. I had no idea as to whether this character was fictitious or based on someone from history so I thought I’d quickly research it. (Btw I typed “the greatest showman and capitalism”) Oh boy, I wish I wasn’t so curious. I found out he was a racist, fraud, hoax-artist and a pioneer/peddler of “fake news”. Apparently he would try to expose hoax showmen and in the process hide away his own trickery and exploitation. Smart tactic. These aspects of his character were barely explored and it baffles me that someone with that kind of history and negative influence is portrayed in a “feel good” (pretentious) musical

Maybe the various articles I read (both that defended the movie or blasted it) affected the way I responded to the movie. Everything seemed pretentious and out of place. It became a cringe fest and felt insincere. I got very annoyed that they took historical liberties with his personal record. He didn’t grow up in abject poverty or beg for food. My guy had wealthy relatives and was the son of a respected proprietor.

Nothing special at all. Even if P.T. Barnum was a saint, the film is still sub-par.
And the music is

5 years 8 months ago

Mortelle

The story wasn't great and the depiction of PT Barnum wasn't exactly accurate, but those aren't the reasons you watch a musical. The music is fun, even if it wasn't what I expected. As someone else pointed it, it's a strange mesh of 1800s aesthetic and modern music. But I actually thought that was fun and unique instead of being a bad thing. The choreography was a lot of fun to watch, too. The bar scene between Jackman and Efron and the trapeze scene with Efron and Zendaya were my two favorite parts of the movie. Sure, the story is predictable, but musicals aren't exactly known for having deep twist-and-turn plots. If you just relax and enjoy the spectacle - like you might do at a circus - it's a fun movie.

5 years 11 months ago

dhan_bo

These songs are a real torture.

6 years ago

audiopile

I didn't like the music at all, top 40 formulaic garbage for mindless listeners. Also, it really didn't fit well with the period.

They should have decided on a century and stuck with it. It would have been fine as an 1800's piece or a 2000's piece but not a mix of both.

The acting and emotion was great with a strong cast.

6 years ago

RogueM

I friggin loved every second of it. I've been listening on the soundtrack on repeat for a week now.

6 years 3 months ago

fbillys

More like THE GREATEST SHOW-MEH. Big NO.

6 years 3 months ago

Fonzleclay

I saw this film today, and I went in with fairly neutral expectations partly because of the low rotten tomatoes score from critics, partly because almost everyone I know who's said they liked it is a theatre nerd (I don't want to sound snobbish but I feel like they're easier to please than the average film fan when it comes to musicals), but mostly because last year we had a musical come out during award season called La La Land which, in my opinion, was over-hyped and therefore didn't live up to expectations for me. So because of all that, I actually ended up quite enjoying The Greatest Showman. It was not great by any means, though very rarely does a film knock me off my feet (I can probably only name about six films from the past year that have managed to do that). Plot-wise, I feel I have seen this story before about a hundred times. The songs, I agree, felt very out of place but they were definitely not bad songs. The choreography was bizarre and in places quite uninspiring and unimaginative . The performances were all round pretty great, this is probably the best I've seen Zac Efron. Overall it would just get a passing grade from me. If can totally understand someone falling in love with this film, I can equally understand someone not liking it.

6 years 3 months ago

ntan

The songs are outstanding. So catchy and fun. The choreography is also well done.

Think about The Prestige. It's about magic and deception, and Michael Caine's sort of monologue at the beginning warns us to watch carefully and details the steps of a magician's trick. The film is structured the exact same way, ending with the prestige of the trick where we, the audience, find we have been deceived. Compare this to PT Barnum who was all about dazzling the audience whatever it takes.

That's exactly how The Greatest Showman plays out. From the opening frame your eyes are treated to dazzling images and your ears filled with incredible songs - it's all about dazzling the audience... whatever it takes.

That's where the problems begin. For one, it's Michael Gracey's directorial debut, and you can tell. It's extremely fast editing. Likely to disguise the ugly and distracting CGI animals and unconvincingly animated jumps and tricks. The cuts come way too quickly. In the hands of a director like Damien Chazelle (see Another Day of Sun) they would have been staged much better.

Also a lot of eye-rolling cliches (snobbish critic who converts to the "good side") and over sentimentalizing (a particular bedside scene just begs for the audience's tears to fall).

But you have to give it credit for being a straight-up crowd pleaser. 90% audience score on RT, A CinemaScore, and applause at the end of the showtime I was at.

It sounds like I had a lot of negative things to say, but I really had a lot of fun with it. See it for the song and dance. 2.5/5

6 years 3 months ago

Siskoid

Because it's a showy musical, The Greatest Showman really shouldn't be criticized for its lack of accuracy as if it were a garden-variety biopic. I've read those complaints, and rather thought P.T. Barnum's portrayal was nevertheless well balanced, even fictionalized as he was. And since he was known as a bit of a con man, the hokum involved is completely within the realm of the appropriate. I liked the songs, but it's the choreography of each set piece that really fascinates, incorporating various circus tricks to provide things we've not seen in a musical before, and following Barnum's own show business strategy of showcasing unusual abilities. The film also has a strong message about the dangers of success in the showbiz world, while also encouraging people to put themselves out there, whatever their talents might be. A nice combination of inspiration and warning, wrapped in a beautiful-looking package.

6 years 3 months ago

nowhereman136

Worth it for the musical scenes alone. The songs are catchy and the choreography is some of the best ive seen in a musical in a long time. Unfortunately scenes between the music were very forgettable. emotions were all over the place and often felt forced for half baked themes. An entertaining movie but little substance in the plot, i still give it an 8/10 because the dancing was that good

6 years 4 months ago

peterskb45

Saw an advanced screening. Bland and inoffensive. Had major Moulin Rouge vibes, which is a negative in my book.

6 years 4 months ago

boulderman

I was at an advance screening with work (missed the Jumanji and Coco ones). I felt, perhaps like musicals, it is a rollercoaster of positive and negative emotions, however the flux was too frequent. The sound editing wasn't great, the lip syncing was noticeable repeatedly and the voices were too loud compared to the music. Too much fake snow (never landing on shoulders). No issues with the actors or character arcs but I think it could have been tweaked. The songs and choreography was generally a joy and the sets and era made great use of them

6 years 4 months ago