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The Greatest Showman
10/10
I can admit that I am not a huge fan of musicals but do love a sing along to a Disney film, which is kind of a different kettle of fish. When I seen La La Land last year, I was a little uncomfortable at first, but as the story progressed, I was immersed into the whole concept of the movie. I hope that this goes the same way again. Hugh Jackman's portrayal of Wolverine was a massive hit for me and watching Logan before going to see this movie, could show the scale of this guy's talents. The rest of the cast brings Zak Efron, Michelle Williams and Zendaya to the screen in this adaptation of P.T. Barnum's life. The movie has been a dream project for Hugh Jackman, in his words and he did a lot of research in order to get into his role. Is this going to be a great show or nothing more than a sideshow attraction?
The movie begins behind some seats, that we can see people legs, stamping to the rhythm, with the outline of Jackman, as Barnum, entering the screen wearing a ringmaster's outfit and carrying a cane. He instantly starts singing and we are straight into our first song, 'The Greatest Show'. He is putting on a dazzling show and everyone is loving it but the music soon stops, as he spins around slowly, the singing gets quieter and suddenly we see s boy in a tailor shop window, looking at the outfit and his reflection, neck up, makes him look like her is wearing the outfit. Instead, this boy is a poor lad, holes in his shoes and quite dirty. His father works as a travelling tailor and is inside the shop to grab some material. They are travelling to a high-end house and a posh family, to fit a suit. When they get there, we can see chemistry between the young P.T. Barnum and the wealthy daughter, Charity. The girl's father doesn't like this and hits Barnum for his troubles. He runs to the beach and is soon met by Charity who has escaped from her bedroom. We are quickly into our second son, 'A Million Dreams' and the lyrics go hand in hand with how these two characters feel their future will go. They enter an old abandoned house, overgrown and beaten up, singing about the dreams they have which include being together, no matter what anyone else thinks. This is going against the scenes the accompany the song though. Charity is sent to finishing school, but the two carry on writing to each other. Then Barnum's father dies and he is left to fend for himself, stealing food and son joining the railway build. The singing takes a brief break, as the music carries on but now Barnum is older, being played by Jackman and is heading to Charity's house to take her away and start their life together. The father still isn't happy and proclaims that she will be back. They run and head into the city together, reunited as adults and carry on the singing, as Barnum proposes to her and they enter their rough flat, dancing on the roof but clearly loving their life together, with the song ending with Barnum holding Charity's pregnant stomach.
The music makes way for some storyline, getting to see where Barnum works, at a trading company. he looks out of the window and there is a clever scene. He looking into the office block next door, which is directly next to a graveyard, giving him the thought that he doesn't want to do this until he dies. That decision is taken from him anyway because the place goes bankrupt when the company's trading ships sink. The boss shows him the deed for the ships that have sunk and Barnum heads home to his wife and two daughters. He instantly tells his wife, who doesn't seem too upset. He pulls out a spinning lamp, that he calls a wishing machine, asking each of them to make a wish and once the daughters are done, they both begin to sing a little bit of 'A Million Dreams', as we can see Barnum hatching a plan. The next day, he takes he deed he has for collateral on a loan of $10,000 and whilst in the waiting room, he sees a really short man, with him mother. This again adds to his ideas. He opens up a museum, one that is devoted to oddities and things from other countries. He believes that people are fascinated with these kinds of things but the place fails to attract business and most people don't have time for the idea. He goes home, deflated and tucks his children into bed. They are still awake and whisper too him that he needs something alive in his museum, instead of everything stuffed. He sets out to find the dwarf that he has seen in the bank, wanting him to be his main attraction and although his mother denies that he exists at first and Charles, the small man, rejects the idea, they are both brought around at the idea of money. He adds to the gang with the bearded lady and puts up posters, attracting others to join. These include an obese man, tall man, hair-covered man and a brother and sister combo who do trapeze. The two family members are of an African origin and state that people won't be happy if they are put on stage. It's show time and everyone is nervous, except for Barnum, who breaks into song, with the lyrics telling everyone to step into the light and dream that they can be more than they imagined. 'Come Alive' starts slow and ends up with the whole of the show's cast, audience and even Barnum's family singing and dancing. The only person who isn't impressed, including myself, is a critic, who writes an article about the show, names it a 'circus' which Barnum uses to rename his show.
Profits are flowing and Barnum has even bought the run-down mansion that they broke into in the beginning, when they were young. The eldest daughter is put into ballet school, but she is discouraged when the other girls make fun of what her father does for a living. Outside of the ballet school show, Barnum bumps into Phillip Carlyle, Efron's character and asks him about the kind of money he makes being a playwright, because he certainly doesn't look like he is enjoying it. They both go for a drink, which involves a song about Phillip joining Barnum and the circus. It brings around lyrics showcasing the good and bad points, from each character, on the overall idea. The choreography for this is pretty damn decent, as they slide shots of Whisky along the bar to each other. At the middle of this song, titled, 'The Other Side', Phillip agrees to join, with a cut of 10% of the profit. They then both head over to the circus to carry on the song and meet the gang, with Phillip meeting Anne, Wheeler, one half of the trapeze act and instantly falling for her. Once they get to chat, she doesn't seem too fussed and dismisses him straight away. He shows his own worth the next day, after setting up a meeting with the Queen of England. Anne simply asks if everyone is invited, knowing of the culture and the unacceptance of African Americans in society. Phillips simply claims that he will let the Queen know that either all of them go, or none of them. At the palace, the Queen comments on how short Charles is, who now goes around as General Tom Thumb. He replies that she isn't too tall herself and after a period of awkward silence, the Queen burst out laughing and everyone is set to enjoy their day. Another guest there is Jenny Lind, a well-known opera singer in Europe, but whom is yet to travel to America. Jenny is played by Rebecca Ferguson and is a character that holds herself well. She knows what Barnum is about and is quite apprehensive when he offers her to do a show in the US.
We can guess that she will join them for the show and she will be a huge hit but Barnum is still risking a lot, considering that he has never heard her sing. She performs for a huge crowd, a song called, 'Never Enough', which is actually dubbed and is sung by Loren Allred, a major player in the Voice singing show in the US. The lyrics contains such lines as, 'You've set off a dream in me', linking to Barnum believing in her and taking her to the states. Before the show, Phillip asked Barnum whether he should put the rest of the circus in his box, but the answer was, 'No, it's too visible', already showing that he has moved on a little from them and maybe he is even a bit ashamed. During the song, we see them all standing at the back, been touched by the lyrics and the singing. Phillip grabs Anne's hand but as he is spotted by some high-end, white couples, he quickly lets go, upsetting her and she runs away. We even see the critic in the crowd enjoying. One thing noticed from the audience is by Charity, who spots how Barnum is looking at Jenny. At the after party, Charity's parents are invited and are introduced to their granddaughters for the first time. A scene is made and Charity storms out before Jenny toasts to Barnum. The rest of his troupe wants to join the party but they are refused entry, again maybe down to Barnum being embarrassed. Although they are downbeat at first, they decide to embrace themselves and let out the most iconic song from the movie, 'This is Me'. They storm through the crowds and through the protesters for their show, singing as they go, dancing and even Anne is aiming the lyrics at Phillip, who is watching from the office window. So far, we have gone from struggle, to elation, to new relationships opening up and now we are getting to some anger and breakdown in those relationships.
A few days pass and Barnum has left a ticket to the opera for Anne to visit, for her very first time. When she arrives, there are two tickets, and Phillip walks behind her, knowing that she wouldn't have gone if he invited her. As they walk up the stairs, his parents are walking down, with a face like they have just stepped in shit, or at least their son has. They aren't happy to see him with a black woman and Anne leaves upset, before Phillip confronts his parents and isn't embarrassed to chase Anne down. This leads to another song and instead of normal dancing, Anne is flying around on her trapeze ropes, as Phillip is trying to catch her, just as her his trying to capture her emotions. The lyrics indicate the problems with the race gap and how they may not be together, unless they fight for it. Being titled 'Rewrite the Stars', it indicates what they both may need to do. Meanwhile, Barnum has taken Jenny on a tour of the States. He has put in a lot of money, borrowing money with his house as collateral. She is a massive hit and we can see her building up an attraction to Barnum, whilst back home, Charity is struggling with the girls and her own emotions for missing the man of the house. Another song begins, entitled 'Tightrope', symbolising how she is walking a fine line, full of difficulty, inside her relationship. She feels that she has lost her husband in some way. At the end of the song, we are in Jenny's hotel room, where she and Barnum are celebrating their success and she makes a move for him, but is rejected. Fair play lad! She is clearly upset and refuses to carry on with the tour. Barnum claims that he will be destroyed if she quits and she accepts to do the rest of the shows. On stage, we can see her struggling, with tears running down her face. As the show comes to a close, Barnum walks on as usual and this time she grabs him and kisses him in front of the press, quitting the tour straight after. Bitch.
More protestors have made themselves inside the circus now and a fight leads to them starting a fire inside, just as Barnum makes it back into town. He hears of it and runs over, just in time for the whole building to be engulfed. Phillip runs back inside when he sees that Anne hasn't made it out, but she comes running from the side door, just as Phillip re-enters. This leaves Barnum needing to go in and get his new friend. The building collapses with both inside, but Barnum makes it out with Phillip in his arms. Phillip is taken to hospital and Barnum simply sits outside the remains of what is left of his job. The main critic comes to sit by him, claiming that the police have found the protestors that started the fire. He even claims that the circus was a good thing, a 'celebration of humanity'. He then brings the bad news. The newspaper has a drawing of Jenny and Barnum kissing and he instantly knows that Charity will have seen this so he runs home. He gets home to find that she has packed her bags and is off home. Finally, what her father said all those years ago, has come true. She is moving out because they bank have evicted them, but she is also unhappy about the newspaper. She knows that he isn't in love with Jenny but also knows that he is actually only in love with himself and success. He makes it to the bar that we have already seen as a location for his song with Phillip. The troupe have followed him and are sick of him wallowing in self-pity. Lettie, the bird with the beard, tells him that he is the only one who seen them for more than freaks and gave them a proper family. Barnum is back encouraged and begins the lyrics to a song entitled, 'From Now On', which details his career but also the main reason he done it, to give his family what they had dreamed of. They are all dancing around the pub before he leaves, to chase down Charity and making it to her father's. He apologises to her for chasing nothing but fame and she replies with the fact that all she ever wanted was the man that she fell for, all those years ago. As the lyrics to the song begin again, this time they are slower and being sung by Anne, who is buy Phillip's bedside as he wakes.
Back at the rumble, the troupe are sitting around, digging through, as Phillip returns and offers to go in with Barnum to start it all again. He has been paid monthly and saved all of it, instead of squandering, but this time he wants to go 50/50 partners. They decide not to build the circus building back up, but instead rent room for a massive tent, that a circus is now synonymous for. Audiences flock from far and wide to see the show once more. The song from the beginning has now become a reality and 'The Greatest Show' is sung once more. Midway through, Barnum hands his hat and cane over to Phillip, making him the ringmaster, mainly because he wants to see his girls grow up. The song carries on with Phillip singing the main part and ending with him embracing Anne in his arms. Barnum has ridden an elephant to meet his family outside the ballet school, where he sits to watch his daughters perform, one as a dancer and the youngest as a tree. The lyrics to the song are finished in his whispers, as 'everything you ever want, everything you ever need, is right in front of you,' this time doesn't mean to be sung to the crowd viewing his show, but are maybe an acknowledgment to himself, that all he ever needed was his family.
This movie gave me enjoyment on a number of levels. It had a great storyline, every song was catchy in their own way and even the choreography gave a whole new step for my viewing experience. I'm not one to be running to the cinema when a musical is announced but I have been back for a second bite of the cherry with this film, with a third viewing planned before it leaves the cinemas altogether. It gets full marks for me, even if people are complaining that it is too far from the real story. It didn't show how is was actually exploiting this people, the fact that Phillip and Anne not being based on real people can easily be over looked and the main one for me would be the fact that Jenny and Barnum had no affair of any sort, she only quit from being over worked. As for the rest of the movie, I'm easily pleased when it comes to this and I've listened to the soundtrack numerous times since watching the movie. The cast was really good, with Jackman as a lead, but also leading his idea for this movie, Efron has been someone I've never seen perform this kind of movie, but he impressed. Everyone else brought their character alive also and I'm not too sure that there was a thing that I didn't enjoy about the whole experience. The main idea would be, that although you may be different, in any or many ways, to the people around you, you are nothing but unique, in a good way. You have the ability to live a normal life, no matter what anyone's opinions, so take it on yourself to seize the day and be happy.
