Skip to content

The Greatest Showman

Michael Gracey

What makes you unique? In a society where we have standards for pretty much everything (beauty, personality, ‘acceptable’ choices or careers, etc), how can anyone ever live happily?

Mathieu CéralineMathieu Céraline February 11, 2018

What makes you unique? In a society where we have standards for pretty much everything (beauty, personality, 'acceptable' choices or careers, etc), how can anyone ever live happy ?

Very colorful, very thoughtful and well-directed (and edited) to the smallest details,The Greatest Showman really amazed me. Minutes after minutes I was thinking “wow, this movie is gorgeous”. And it is gorgeous as much for the eyes as it is for the ears.

SYNOPSIS

Thirsty for innovation and hungry for success, the son of a tailor will manage to open a unique and peculiar, never-seen-before, live acts on the circus stage. Some call Barnum a freak and his circus a freak show ! But in his desire to please and be accepted by everyone, he will somehow lose sight of the most important aspect of his life: his family. Will Barnum risk it everything to be accepted? [Source: IMDB]

The Greatest Showman: The Greatest Movie* ?

I don't (usually) like musicals

I've never been much of a Musicals fan. In fact I only went to see this movie for two reasons: all the actors and all the great and laudative reviews I read about it. But, what was only supposed to be "another movie I watched" might just be the best movie of the year.

Movie still, a discussion between Philip Carlyle (Zac Efron) and Anne Wheeler (Zendaya).Movie still, a discussion between Philip Carlyle (Zac Efron) and Anne Wheeler (Zendaya).

And I'm not even exaggerating: this movie, its colors, its actors and most of all its details amazed me from the beginning to the end.

“Hyperbole isn't the worst crime. men suffer more from imagining too little than too much.” — P.T. Barnum

A Standing Ovation

I'll be honest on this one: I've watched quite a lot of movies in the past year (thanks UGC Illimité!) and the only time I saw people applaud at the end of a movie was for Star-Wars: The Last Jedi ... before The Greatest Showman. If you are anything like me (or the rest of the people in my room), this movie will make you feel so many emotions and admiration that you're just not going to be able to retain your applause.

'A Celebration of Humanity'

The writing part seems to only be the icing on the cake of this seamless movie. As much as I don't want to spoil you anything, I liked how this movie encourages people to accept their uniqueness, settling for what makes them happy rather than always wanting more) and, share the love.

« Another critic might have called it a ‘celebration of humanity’ » — James Gordon Bennett

An attention to details

I’m usually trying to find some minus aspects in movies reviews but honestly, I can’t find any. Every details, every elements I could judge it upon would be a solid 10/10. The cast was great and well-chosen, every actor impersonated their character perfectly well. The scenery ? Perfect and very colorful. The images : and I’m talking as much of the camera angle as of its movements. Sincerely, and I don’t usually say that for movies : everything was great. Oh, and I forgot : the transition. God, the transitions were probably the greatest parts of the movie. Going from an era or a place to another seamlessly.

An amazing cast

Hugh Jackman’s acting during the whole movie was just flawless. To be honest, knowing the man as Wolverine, I would never ever have pictured him as P.T Barnum. But he did the job so well, he amazed me !

Hugh Jackman and Michelle Williams on the set of The Greatest ShowmanHugh Jackman and Michelle Williams on the set of The Greatest Showman

Past, the main actors, I really enjoyed the whole cast of the movies. I’ll surely remember Rebecca Ferguson (Jenny Lind), Keala Settle (Lettie Lutz) and Sam Humphrey (Tom Thumb).

Should you watch it ?

I think you'll like this movie if :

  • Obviously, you like Musicals
  • You like movies with a moral or a lesson to be learned
  • You like cinematographics and love breath-taking images, interesting camera angles and transition
  • You, even remotely, like Hugh Jackman

Let's chat

Have you seen The Greatest Showman ? I'd love to know your opinion in the comments.

More like that...

Steve Jobs

Walter Isaacson