The Greatest Showman

— I almost didn’t see “The Greatest Showman” after reading reviews and then a friend told me how she’d thoroughly enjoyed it. The key, I think, is to realize we all have more than one story…and to let loose a little. It isn’t a biography and it isn’t painting a picture of Barnum as savior of the marginalized, but viewers who have to see everything as an injustice to be righted won’t be tapping their toes or shedding a tear to this musical effort. An unusually large number of songs try to be anthems, and too many numbers surge with colorfully dressed characters singing and dancing across the screen—even a few animals too—but even if it’s almost too rousing, Hugh Jackman is amazing and carries things along like, well, the greatest showman. It’s not the best musical film ever made, and its message is a little simple, but I knew it was only a slice of a story, on the screen not to deceive but to entertain, and that I like to be entertained.

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[2017. 105 min. Directed by Michael Gracey. Starting Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams, and Zac Efron.]
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-greatest-showman-2017