The Greatest Showman - a frustrating film that is somehow beloved

The Greatest Showman

By: Noah Newcomb

        I have a rough relationship with The Greatest Showman. When I first saw this three years ago with my brothers I loved it. I watched it a second time I loved it. Then I watched it a third time I loved it. Then something happened, I had to sing This is Me for my 5th Grade graduation. Since then I have despised The Greatest Showman. My little brother Silas, loved the movie and still does. We watched it for his eighth birthday just yesterday but I'll get to that. I do think the best thing about this movie will be how entertaining it will for kids. Anyway, Silas got the DVD and when we go out of town on a trip we take DVD's to watch on the trip. Once we watched it on the drive I definite stance that I didn't like this movie anymore. I've watched it a few times since then but when I watched it on my brother's birthday I wanted to understand what went wrong for me with this movie. I think my biggest gripe against this film is its blandness and its clumsy storytelling. Now before you get all mad at me I do understand that this is a kids' film and it is aimed at a kid audience. However, there are better kid movies out there. When I sit down and write these reviews it's building up to my Final Thoughts where I state whether or not I recommend the film or not. A recommendation is based on if I liked the movie, though that is the least deciding factor, and if I think a majority of people will enjoy this film. So I do have to factor in the adult side to a movie. Kids and Adults are capable of enjoying a "kid movie". We've seen that with Pixar time and time again. Not every movie has to be Pixar with adult meaning in there. I watched a "kid movie" called Fantastic Mr. Fox which was a lot of fun with good stop-motion effects. There are good kid movies that aren't complex like Pixar's. The Greatest Showman, however, is dumber than most kid movies. Everything is so painfully obvious and bland. You can where the movie is going 15 minutes before it even gets there. Even the first tenish minutes when Charity's father tells P. T. that his wife will be back and blah blah blah blah blah. You already know Charity is going to return to her father because of something P. T. will do. TOO OBVIOUS. Now I'm not going to slam these songs too hard. I don't really like thems so I'll give props to the songwriters for creating these songs that have inspired so many people. I will not, however, give props to the vocal performances. They are merely okay. I was surprised that Hugh Jackman did a pretty good job. I think that Zac Efron did a pretty pathetic job with his acting and vocal performance. I didn't get a lot from him. Zendaya did a decent job, she isn't the worst. I prefer her the most in the Spider-Man films but she does a good job. Her relationship with Zac Efron is not done well at all. I don't blame her for that. The worst performances in this film are P. T. Barnum's children. Both of them to a horrible job and make me not care for them at all. I hate to be rough on them but there are better kid actors out there. Also, Rebecca Ferguson is giving a good performance, but her character represents obvious symbolism for P.T. I don't want to come out full-on negative on this film. There are some good songs in this film, great costume design, dancing, and choreography.

Final Thoughts

       Overall this is a pretty generic film so I don't feel like I need to go into spoilers. If you like The Greatest Showman, I can see why. This can be a fun film with fun songs for most people. When it gets down to a recommendation, however, I'm leaning towards a not recommend. There are much better family films to see. If you're reading this and you have kids and are thinking about a movie you and your kids can see, go see a Disney or Pixar film. Definitely a Pixar film. There are better family films out there. Not Recommend.

        

The Greatest Showman Official Trailer