You know what sickens me? People who are good at everything. You know the ones I mean. Those that are brilliant at anything they try their hand at. Doesn't matter what gets thrown at them and they master it with ease. Hugh Jackman is one such person. He can do no wrong. A totally convincing action star, a very good actor when he gets the chance and he can sing and dance too with the best of them. I should hate him but he's just so damn likable on top of everything else. Grrrr.
Which brings me to his new film The Greatest Showman.
It's the story of Phineas Taylor Barnum, the greatest showman the world has ever seen. But life wasn't always good to him and we see in flashback just how hard he had to work to build his empire, from his destitute childhood through meeting his wife and onto his first taste of the big time. But as always with these rags to riches stories, numerous roadblocks need to be vaulted. His first big show was considered a freak show because of it's performers but perserverance and belief eventually brought success. But success usually has a downside.
I enjoyed this one. If you're a fan of the big lavish musical productions of the 50's and 60's you'll probably love it. And even if you aren't there's still a lot to like. It's a film with the epic sweep and production scale of the classics and thankfully it doesn't feel the need to copy their epic running times. 105 minutes, lovely, though annoyingly this causes a couple of issues I'll get back to latter. But it looks and sounds fantastic and isn't that the raison d'etre of any musical really. At least 3 of the songs in it have been rattling around my head for a few days. It's pure exuberance. The kind of song and dance show that will have you grinning like a fool. It has a lovely old fashioned feel to it as well in every aspect except for the music which goes in a slightly more modern direction but it never jars. The styles gel well together.
It moves like a race horse too. Barely taking a minute to stop and catch a breath and this is where the film suffers somewhat. Big plot points are solved in seconds, others are skipped over, large sections of the cast get paid the merest of lip service which is annoying when you have a cast of character's this diverse and interesting. It's good to see a film without padding but when it's at the expense of characterisation it can be grating.
The main cast is great. Jackman in the lead role in on fire, he really gives his all in a part that runs the gamut from likable to punchable. The standouts from the circus folk are Keala Settle who'll blow you away as the bearded lady Lettie Lutz and Zendaya, the trapeze wonder artist Anne Wheeler. Michelle Williams as Charity Barnum does well in a part that suffers from the film's leanness. Like last years' Manchester By The Sea she does a lot with a little but I'd have liked to have seen more of her in this. Zac Efron as Phillip Carlyle is fun as always and Rebecca Ferguson as the opera singer Jenny Lind is good on a role that sparks a bit of needed drama late in the film. Her solo opera piece is fantastic too.
It's a film about the dangers of ambition and of letting success go to your head. The need to remember that family and friends are more important than anything else. It's also about the wonders of acceptance and underneath all the razzmatazz there's a warm heart beating here. It's a killer when the cultural, societal, and racial mores of the day intrude on the all encompassing acceptance inside the circus and one song 'This Is Me' about that fact is a glorious paean to being yourself and it's an issue that's still ultra relevant one hundred or so years later in 2017.
A big, lavish and entertaining family movie that will no doubt become a piece of furniture on the Christmas TV landscape in years to come. Well worth going to see if you want to drag the holidays out for another little bit.
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