"Everyone's got an act."
Hello everyone!
But what if you don't fit in?
What if, when all the odds are stacked against you, someone walks through the door to offer you a helping hand, and gives you something to actually look forward to?
This is a universal sort of theme that permeates tonight's movie of choice, but there's a whole plethora of others that just keep popping back up no matter how hard you may try to ignore them. That's what a good movie does, anyway.
If you haven't figured out just what I seem to be talking about, you might be living under a rock, friend.
It's time for The Greatest Showman.
First off, let me just say that I probably would have taken longer to watch this movie if not for the fact that a couple of really good friends kept going on and on about how good it was.
SO.
I sat down and watched it. And I can honestly say I thoroughly enjoyed it - but before I even head into the actual review, let me say that it's the music that makes it great. The story itself - from rags to riches and then almost back to rags before you find some balance in your life - has been done before and it's happening all around the world. You know it. I know it. There's nothing really NEW to it.
Which means The Greatest Showman would have been an ok, maybe even mediocre movie if it had tried pulling this off without the musical aspect.
But DAMN, the music!
I can't remember the last time I've been so stoked about a soundtrack, at any time. Unless it's The Lord of the Rings or something, but that's beside the point. I think I may have listened to the songs on repeat for two days without stopping, and even now I sometimes hum the themes and have three or four favourites always on the go.
So - story: okay. Music: fantastic. End result: show-stopper.
On to the review!
The movie actually does a really clever thing because it throws you directly into the main song theme through P. T. Barnum's (Hugh Jackman) imagination, because, as it turns out, the reality of it is that he's just the son of a poor tailor and not nearly as successful as he wants to be. During one of his father's visits to a wealthy house, he meets the gentleman's daughter, Charity, and the two form a rather unlikely bond. As she's sent away to a girl's finishing school, they can only keep in touch through letters, but this evolves into a beautiful, strong love that withstands the test of time - and Barnum's father passing, which lands him in the streets from where he picks himself up and starts doing odd jobs to climb the social ladder.
Eventually, with an accounting position, he asks for Charity's hand in marriage and the two have two daughters together. Charity has never been happier - but Barnum wants more.
He knows what poverty's like. He doesn't like dancing on the edge of it, and wants more for his children, regardless that his wife (Michelle Williams) keeps saying she's perfectly happy with what they have, so long as they have each other.
Of course Barnum's happiness can't last as he's let off from the company he works for, which leads to an idea: he buys an abandoned museum and begins pulling in "freaks" (or what society calls them) to attract audiences and make a show. This, eventually, actually starts bringing him a lot of money, and he can now buy the house he and Charity had played in as children, can give lavish gifts to both the girls and his wife, etc.
Charity keeps telling him that it's enough, she doesn't want more - but Barnum's now on the scent of money and his show keeps attracting more and more attention.
Which is where Zac Efron's character Phillip comes in; he plays a young, sophisticated, successful man from a wealthy family, whom Barnum somehow convinces to go into a partnership with him, which leads to the young man meeting Anne (Zendaya), a trapeze artist, and the two start falling in love.
There's just one catch: Anne is poor, she comes from very different social circles, and she knows this, she knows that his parents will never accept her, not that he listens to her.
He wants her. He wants the life he now has, thanks to Barnum and her. Who cares about inheritance?
Now at a high point, Barnum and the rest meet Queen Victoria, as well as a famous Swedish opera singer (Rebecca Ferguson) whom Barnum sees as yet a bigger chance to score more money. He leaves his show and goes to tour Europe with the singer, while the rest of them continue what he started (though it doesn't quite feel the same).
Unfortunately, as the singer wants more from Barnum than he can give, he eventually returns home to scandal from the time she kissed him, his house taken as colatteral against the show and his wife leaving him, saying she had always supported him so long as he told her the truth. It didn't matter to her what it was - it was an adventure while they did it together.
But before his personal disaster, fire is set in the museum (because people will always hate what's different) and the building burns to the ground. Thinking Anne might be inside, her beau rushes in to save her, but she's thankfully alright and out - Barnum (exchanging a look with his wife who knows exactly what time it is) runs in to get him. However, his life is now in tatters on both personal and professional fronts, so that's that.
With his wife and children gone and the location of his show ruined, Barnum is set to drink himself into a stupor when his old troupe finds him; they convince him to give it another shot, that what everyone thought was just a circus had become their home, and they want it back.
So, with Anne and Phillip now happy in a relationship since she sat waiting for him to wake up from his smoke-induced unconsciousness, the race is on.
Phillip offers to invest in this new venture, since he'd actually saved up his own money from the show, but only if Barnum makes him an actual partner - Barnum agrees, and they put up a circus at the waterfront which is much cheaper than renting a building.
Having reconciled with Charity - who, once again, supports him in this venture of his - Barnum hands his hat over to Phillip to continue the show while he will go and become a family man, to watch his children grow up.
After all - the show must go on.
It's a classic retelling of how someone can rise from nothing but how quickly that can get to his head - and what the love of a good woman and a strong foundation of friends will do for a man. It might not have been much without the music, but with it, The Greatest Showman is one of those flicks you really don't want to miss. Between Jackman and Efron and Zendaya - not to mention pretty much EVERYONE ELSE - you're in for a treat.
Highly recommended!
xx
*images and video not mine
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