GREATEST SHOWMAN, THE (2017, USA) **½
Biography, Drama, Musical
dist. Twentieth Century Fox; pr co. Bona Film Group / Chernin Entertainment / TSG Entertainment / Twentieth Century Fox; d. Michael Gracey; w. Jenny Bicks, Bill Condon (based on a story by Jenny Bicks); exec pr. Tonia Davis, Donald J. Lee Jr., James Mangold; pr. Peter Chernin, Laurence Mark, Jenno Topping; ph. Seamus McGarvey (Colour. D-Cinema. ARRIRAW (3.4K) (6.5K) (source format), Digital Intermediate (4K) (master format). 2.39:1); m. Benj Pasek, Justin Paul; s. “The Greatest Show” (performed by Hugh Jackman, Keala Settle, Zac Efron, Zendaya & The Greatest Showman Ensemble) m/l. Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, Ryan Lewis, “A Million Dreams” (performed by Ziv Zaifman, Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams, Skylar Dunn, Austyn Johnson, Cameron Seely), “Come Alive” (performed by Hugh Jackman, Keala Settle, Daniel Everidge, Zendaya & The Greatest Showman Ensemble), “The Other Side” (performed by Hugh Jackman & Zac Efron), “Never Enough” (performed by Loren Allred), “This Is Me” (performed by Keala Settle & The Greatest Showman Ensemble), “Rewrite the Stars” (performed by Zac Efron & Zendaya), “Tightrope” (performed by Michelle Williams), “From Now On” (Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams & The Greatest Showman Ensemble) m/l. Benj Pasek, Justin Paul; m sup. Mark Wike; chor. Shannon Holtzapffel, Ashley Wallen; ed. Tom Cross, Robert Duffy, Joe Hutshing, Michael McCusker, Jon Poll, Spencer Susser; pd. Nathan Crowley; ad. Laura Ballinger; set d. Debra Schutt; cos. Ellen Mirojnick; m/up. Nicki Ledermann, Whitney James, Jerry Popolis, Mary L. Mastro; sd. Dror Mohar, Lewis Goldstein (Dolby Digital | Dolby Atmos); sfx. Garry Elmendorf; vfx. Mathieu Raynault, Anish Ratna Tuladhar, Mark O. Forker, David Isyomin, Eran Dinur, Chris LeDoux, Gaia Bussolati, Radley Teruel, Prabhakar Maharjan, John Helms, Cliff Welsh, Dann Tarmy, Vincent Poitras, Martin Lipmann, Keith Sellers; st. Victor Paguia, Mathieu Leopold; rel. 20 December 2017 (USA), 26 December 2017 (UK); cert: PG; r/t. 105m.
cast: Hugh Jackman (P.T. Barnum), Michelle Williams (Charity Barnum), Zac Efron (Phillip Carlyle), Zendaya (Anne Wheeler), Rebecca Ferguson (Jenny Lind), Austyn Johnson (Caroline Barnum), Cameron Seely (Helen Barnum), Keala Settle (Lettie Lutz), Sam Humphrey (Tom Thumb), Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (W.D. Wheeler), Eric Anderson (Mr. O’Malley), Ellis Rubin (Young Barnum), Skylar Dunn (Young Charity), Daniel Everidge (Lord of Leeds), Radu Spinghel (O’Clancy), Yusaku Komori (Chang), Danial Son (Eng), Paul Sparks (James Gordon Bennett), Will Swenson (Philo Barnum), Linda Marie Larson (Mrs. Stratton).
Growing up in the early 1800s, P.T. Barnum (Jackman) displays a natural talent for publicity and promotion, selling lottery tickets by age 12. After trying his hands at various jobs, P.T. turns to show business to indulge his limitless imagination, rising from nothing to create the Barnum & Bailey circus. Featuring catchy musical numbers, exotic performers and daring acrobatic feats, Barnum’s mesmerizing spectacle soon takes the world by storm to become the greatest show on Earth. This is a triumph of style over content. The musical numbers are expansive, well-choreographed and wonderfully performed. The story , however, is given little room to breathe with short dialogue interludes serving to advance the plot between the songs. This would work well on stage, but in a movie it feels like the characters are short-changed and as a result the whole production is given an air of artificiality. This is not helped by the songs, which whilst memorable feel anachronistic. The result is a detached experience in which you can admire the spectacle without really caring about what is going on.
AAN: Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song) (Benj Pasek, Justin Paul for the song “This is Me”)