The Greatest Showman

A Review

Li Carter

Jan 3

I’m a bit late to the party with this movie. I wasn’t one of those who rushed to the cinema to see it. In fact, the first time I watched it was on the 28th of December 2018, well over a year after it was released. I’ll admit, I thought that there was a lot of hype, and I was worried that the movie wouldn’t live up to it, but I will also admit that I was wrong.

The movie is a biopic, following PT Barnum, as he goes from poor young boy, to a rich young man who follows his dreams, and although he gets a little lost along the way, he eventually realises that’s really important in life.

I won’t go into the plot much more here, because while a great number of people have seen it already, I am aware that some haven’t, and… spoilers.

This movie is one of the best I have seen in a long time. Hugh Jackman is superb as PT Barnum, and Zac Efron shows that he can be more than just a high school heart throb as Bailey. The so-called ‘freaks’ are a breath of fresh air, with not only emotional depth, but also a large amount of comedy to their characters.

I can’t finish this review without mentioning the soundtrack, which can only be described as epic! The songs are a genius piece of writing, especially “This is me”, a song of defiance sung by the ‘freaks’, which actually gave me shivers as I listened to it.

All in all, I loved this movie. If you haven’t seen it, I would highly recommend that you see it. Even if you only agree to try it for the music, I honestly think you will find yourself moved and uplifted by the end of it.

Let me know what you think of it in the comments. All opinions are welcome here.