The Greatest Showman (Musical Movie)

Saw it this afternoon and I did like it but not lovi. I do agree thinking some of it seemed to be too quick and not developed. Liked all the performances and the cinematography was very good as well as it being very ambitious for a first time movie director. I was worried that the songs would be too poppy and did not know how it would fit in but I did also like all the sons but some time in felt they went a but generic and poppy. A nice way to spend an afternoon and while not my favourite movie musical it was fun. I was also looking on Spotify at the album and I feel like it is missing aimeof the songs like one when they were in the bar and maybe others .

Saw the film on Wednesday with a group of friends who knew nothing about the film - they all loved it, as did we. Totally agree all the way through with anthony40's review. Its light, colourful. speeds along and is the perfect film to enjoy for all the family. Yes it does not cover all the problems in his life and ends on a high, but can anyone of you say that the musical Barnum with Michael Crawford tells all and had a downbeat ending?? But the musical still plays and tours and people enjoy it. Look on it as an enjoyable couple of hours at the cinema. Love the music and look forward to buying the dvd when on sale!

I think I could stand the tunes if the Pasek/Paul lyrics weren't so bland and clichéd. The setting is a circus which provides plenty of scope for interesting imagery, but no it's all mountains and oceans and dreams and bad rhymes. Even though Tightrope is used as a song title, they don't develop the image, just repeat it as the boring hook line. I know they want songs that are radio friendly and can be sung out of context but other writers manage to do this without being so bland and lazy.

I’ve just sat through this and thought that the music was the best thing about it. The film itself was cheesy and beyond predictable. Zac Efron did quite well in a ‘grown up’ role, Jackman was alright and made it all look effortless, but Michelle Williams looked embarrassed to be there. I found Zendaya to be beyond vanilla which was annoying when she’d been so spunky in Spiderman. I shall be downloading the soundtrack asap.

Saw this last night, it's a bit... yeah.

Being very much into circus (much of my extended family are or have been in one) I know PT Barnum's story inside out, and this was just about the loosest interpretation you could create of his life and still claim it had any basis in fact. They made him out to be a charitable icon and a lovely man, which he wasn't, but simultaneously failed to convey any of the actually nice things about him. He paid his "freaks" very well and treated them as equals, so naturally they neglected to mention any of that, and had the only sour aspect of an otherwise wonderful person be that he was secretly ashamed of them - which naturally they forgave him for as soon as the plot required them to. The whole "freak" angle was far better explored in the Freak Show American Horror Story season, and at least in that some of the characters were given a non-Disneyfied personality.

Zac Efron's character didn't exist in real life, unless they were attempting to severely misrepresent James Bailey, which I could have forgiven if he'd had any real purpose in the story beyond feeling sorry for himself and having awful parents. The performances weren't dreadful but the script gave them nothing to work with. Keala Settle was the obvious stand-out, and This Is Me stole an otherwise mediocre show.

Pasek and Paul's score was quite nice, as has been mentioned before they've created some strong stuff in the past but seem to have settled into this substance lacking pop vibe recently. All of the songs were quite catchy and they were probably the most profound part of an otherwise vacuous storyline, but I was crying out for a gritty, powerful number that said something, anything, except "here's a lazy and shallow point about self-identity that we're going to make over and over again".

It wasn't the hit of the year, put it that way, but provided you don't know the much stronger story you aren't being told, it's probably an entertaining enough way to waste a couple of hours.

Eh? Philandering gay man. Where did that come from?

Possibly you were seeing something that neither myself or my sister saw when we watched it.

I can see why you thought Rebecca Ferguson was Wellemijn Verkaik. I actually thought she also looked like Elena Roger.

Ah, I see

Absolutely brilliant movie, film of the year for me, you'd have to be dead inside not to enjoy this, we need films like this now more than ever, so what if it's not historically accurate, we need escapism !!

I actually thought that was probably the best number of the lot, but apparently it wasn't even Rebecca Ferguson singing it, so that kind of ruins it.

Yes, I think those two were the strongest, I think they dubbed whoever did Rebecca's bit very well, I wouldn't have known it wasn't her but it's a shame they couldn't have cast an actual musical theatre performer who could have done it in their sleep.

Enjoyable film with catchy songs - I did find myself wishing it sounded less vocoded/autotuned/computery and more like a proper musical recording but I guess that's just how things are these days. Still, great to see musicals being made in any form and I'm more than happy to support them 😁

Thoroughly enjoyed this film. Great songs and great cast. I agree with poster above about it being so much better than La La Land. The soundtrack of the film has even reached no 4 in the charts which is fantastic. It's not very often you see musical soundtrack from film or show in the charts. Highly recommended.