Title: The Greatest Showman
Age: PG
Released: 8th December 2017
Director: Michael Gracey
Genre: Drama, Musical, Romance
Rating: **** (4/5 stars)
About: Inspired by the imagination of P. T. Barnum, The Greatest Showman is an original musical that celebrates the birth of show business & tells of a visionary who rose from nothing to create a spectacle that became a worldwide sensation.
Review: So I know that this has been out for a while and I did go see it as soon as it came out – I just haven’t got round to doing anything on this blog clearly.
But now, I’m going to try again.
And since I went to go see this film again recently with my family, I thought that this film was probably worth a review.
Now I do love, love this film, but I don’t think it’s worth 5 stars (sorry!). My personal feelings towards the film, is that fact that it’s only really successful because of the songs (and I listen to the soundtrack on repeat now all the time). I actually have literally no interest in the actual storyline of the film. Despite the fact that I have enjoyed it, every time I’ve watched it.
It seems to me that this film is probably successful for the same reason that High School Musical became successful – in the same way it did remind me a bit of The Great Gatsby (2013), but I don’t think it was as good as that film. But does that mean that The Greatest Showman wasn’t good.
If I were to ask my dad this same question, he would say without hesitation that he definitely preferred The Greatest Showman over High School Musical despite the fact that when we went to go watch it on our family outing, there was a lot of huffing and signing coming from his seat in the cinema.
I do feel bad for my dad, living in a house with three women does mean that he has to deal with a load of girly films, but he does have a good solution to this, he will at least look like he is joining in the fun by sitting with us in the lounge, but he has an uncanny knack at falling asleep after the intro.
Saying that, I’m not too sure if I could even argue that this film is just for women, because the first time I went to go see it with my best friend, the cinema was full and there were plenty of men who came in without a female counterpart. Did they enjoy it? Yes I think so – it was all everyone was talking about the moment we stepped out of the cinema.
So maybe my dad was just tired that day.
This is a film to watch, even if it does seem to have a whole load of negativity surrounding it. It’s really worth it, even if you only see it just the one time.
I mean the film tells a story, some bits a little shocking, like in the beginning when he gets slapped as a kid (that’s one reason why it’s PG) and some over bits. But it aims more to be a feel good film, so even though you can say that it does deal with difficult topics, it doesn’t really focus in hard on them, instead aiming to please the audience and keep the mood light-hearted.
For example, there’s the problem of race, shown though the relationship between Zac Efron and Zendaya. She’s mixed race and he’s white, hence there is a problem with his relationship with her, but he stands up for her, and they live happily ever after. Real nice ending. . . So it’s that sort of film, there are some issues, but it doesn’t really address them, there are just there in the background.
Which I kind of appreciate because otherwise I would have wanted to have watched a more serious film and like I said, this is a feel good feel.
If anything, just go and watch this film for the soundtrack, the songs are that good.
CastlesandTurrets 