The Greatest Showman - Directed by Michael Gracey Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
The disconnect between the hoity-toity cultural elite and the average Joe is nowhere better revealed than in the occasionally diverging opinions of movie critics and audiences on a great movie. Such is the case with The Greatest Showman which netted only a 55% positive rating at Rotten Tomatoes but a 90% positive rating from audiences. This is one heck of a great movie and the critics just don't get it.
The film is a fictionalized musical about the life of P.T. Barnum. It is reminiscent of Baz Luhrmann's 2001 flick, Moulin Rouge. The set design and art direction have a very similar feel. The exterior scenes of New York have the same ethereal quality that the scenes of Paris did in Moulin Rouge.
And, like Moulin Rouge, this is a musical, a movie where people break into song at the drop of a hat. In Moulin, pop music was used, but this film uses superb original music by songsmiths Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. They won the Academy Award for Best Song last year for City of Stars in LaLaLand and they are nominated again for their song This is Me in The Greatest Showman. All the songs in this movie are a joy and some are inspiring.
The movie wows you right off the bat as Barnum, played by Hugh Jackman, enters the circus ring as ringmaster singing The Greatest Show. The staging, the glitter and the choreography astound. It is vibrant and exciting, as the greatest show on earth should be. If there was an Academy Award for choreography, this movie would surely have been nominated. Unfortunately choreography was only a category from 1935 to 1937 (Best Dance Direction).
One of the things I liked about the choreography was how the background actions timed in perfectly with the music. In the opening number horses enter the arena, their hoofbeats in time with the music. In another scene that takes place in a bar, amazing things are done with beer steins sliding down the bar or being plunked down, all in sync with the music. There is a magical scene on the rooftop of the Barnum's apartment with candle lights and sheets hanging on the line.
After the grand opening, the movie flashes back to Barnum's childhood and his erstwhile attraction to a young socialite whose wealthy parents don't like the working class boy.
But young Phineas has a dream and he and Charity, the girl of his dreams sing A Million Dreams. This song sets the tone for the whole movie. It's a movie about dreams, about dreaming big and making your dreams come true.
When they grow up, Charity marries Phineas despite her parent objections. They raise two lovely daughters together as P.T. starts to build his entertainment empire - first as a museum of curiousities, then as a showcase of unusual people, some might say freaks, like the midget he dubs General Tom Thumb, or the bearded lady, brilliantly played by Keala Settle.
Newsman James Bennett, editor of the New York Herald trashes the show, calling it a circus of humbug. Barnum runs with the name, changing his venue from a museum to a circus.
A side story is introduced as Barnum takes on a young partner, Philip Carlyle, played by Zac Efron. Carlyle is loosely based on the real life James A. Bailey who was Barnum's real life partner in developing the Barnum and Bailey Circus.
The movie is not only about reaching for your dreams, but also about prejudice. There is the overt prejudice of Charity's and Carlyle's upper class parents who have nothing but disdain for Barnum and his crew. And there is the prejudice of the mob which does not want a freak show in their midst. And there is racial prejudice as Carlyle falls in love with the black trapeze artist Anne Wheeler played by Zendaya.
Triumphs in the movie include a meeting with Queen Victoria for Barnum and his entire cast, and his sponsorship of the Swedish Nightingale Jenny Lind for an American tour.
And the climax has Barnum and crew rise like a phoenix from the ashes after the mob torches his emporium.
There is a key scene in the movie where Barnum sits down with critic Bennett, now come around to appreciating what Barnum has accomplished. You've taken people of all colours, shapes and sizes, he says, and brought them together to achieve greatness. Your work is a celebration of humanity. Indeed, it is a celebration of life itself.
This is a glorious movie, dazzling in its spectacle and inspiring in its message. One of the best movies of the last year.
Shamefully, it only got one Academy Award nomination, for Best Song for This is Me. It should have been nominated for Best Picture, Best Director (Michael Gracey's debut as director - simply amazing), Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor (Zac Efron), Best Supporting Actress (Keala Settle), Best Original Screenplay, Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography as well.
The main beef of the critics seems to be that it played fast and loose with the historical facts which is partially true. But that, in my opinion, is beside the point. Taken at face value, this is a movie about overcoming adversity, about reaching out to achieve your dreams. It is a movie that inspires and dazzles.
And that, I think, is why the critics really panned it. It is the same reason some reviewers in Vancouver panned Les Miserables when that musical first came to Vancouver. They don't want uplifting. They slaver over the cesspool school of art. Uplifting is not in their vocabulary. That is their loss.
- History Versus Hollywood - how historically accurate is this movie?
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