I love a good musical. I even love a mediocre musical. I just love a musical. Add in Hugh Jackman or Zac Efron and I’m there. Add in both, then shut up and take my money. Mom asked me to suggest a movie to take her and my Tia to on Christmas Eve. “No, I don’t like the circus, what else is there” “Nothing you would like” “Maybe we’ll just stay in and watch something.” [Later] “Fine let’s go see the circus movie” [Later she and the Tia can’t stop raving about the film.]
This movie musical gives us a highly fictionalized story of PT Barnum and how he started his circus. Now I know that in reality, Barnum may not have been the most wholesome character, but let’s suspend that disbelief for the sake of musical magic.
Again, as someone who loves musicals, I very much enjoyed this movie. I liked the contemporary style of the music, which was a contrast to the period setting. Standouts being the opening number and This Is Me. Taking it to the next level was some killer choreo. The duets were even more gorgeous with stunning moves that would make any mirrorball trophy winner on DWTS jealous. The group numbers blew me away too, especially because you could see the emotion pouring into every stomp and throw. They really made you feel it. I downloaded the soundtrack as soon as I got home, and I’m listening to it now as I’m typing this.
The cast was stellar, with Jackman and Efron leading the way of course. Can I just say that I was actually really excited to see Zac doing a musical again? I love that he’s found a bit of a niche in comedy, but musicals are where we (I) first fell in love with him, and it’s like he was coming home. Pairing him with Jackman, the reigning king of the movie musical, was genius.
This movie was far from perfect, and the casual movie goer might find it inaccessible. But I loved it. So did my Mom and Tia. That’s all they talked about on Christmas Day.
The Greatest Showman – \m/ \m/ \m/ \n