Hugh Jackman plays P.T. Barnum, the circus impresario who built the greatest show on earth, and he does it with a smile that never falters. The Greatest Showman is a musical about fame, family and the power of spectacle, and it commits fully to its own cheer. That commitment is both the movie’s strength and its undoing. It wants to be a feel-good epic, and it mostly is, but it never stops to ask whether its message holds up.
Trailer, via 20th Century Studios UK.
Barnum’s Rise
The film opens with Barnum as a struggling father in Connecticut, a man of small means with big ideas. He believes that everyone has something to offer, and he builds his show around performers society rejects: the dwarf Charles Strickland, the conjoined twins Chang and Eng Bunker, the bearded lady Lettie Lutz. The story tracks his rise from a penny museum operator to the founder of Barnum’s American Museum, eventually becoming the showman behind the traveling circus that gave the film its name.
Jackman plays Barnum with warmth and energy, and he carries the picture through scenes that would sink a lesser actor. His performance is the reason the film works at all. The songs, penned by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, are pleasant and tuneful, but they rarely dig deep enough to justify the emotion they’re meant to convey. “The Other Side,” sung by Zac Efron as Barnum’s protégé Phillip Carlyle, is a highlight, but even it feels like a placeholder for a moment of character growth that never arrives.
The Songs
The music is the engine of The Greatest Showman, and the engine runs hot. “Come Alive” opens the film with a burst of color and confidence, setting the tone for everything that follows. “A Million Dreams,” sung by Zendaya as Lettie Lutz, is a quiet standout, a ballad about hope and perseverance that lands with genuine weight. “This Is Me,” performed by the ensemble, is the anthem the film needs, a declaration of self-worth that resonates far beyond the plot. These moments are the reason audiences left theaters singing.
But the songs are not enough to sustain a narrative. The film leans on spectacle to fill gaps that dialogue and editing should cover. The choreography is sharp, and the production design is lavish, but the story underneath is thin. Characters enter, perform, and exit without leaving much trace. The film’s central conflict — Barnum’s drive for success versus his duty to his family — is a promising setup, but it gets resolved with a montage rather than a conversation.
The Ensemble
The supporting cast is a mixed bag. Michelle Williams plays Barnum’s wife, Charity, and she brings a grounded sadness to a role that could easily be forgotten. Rebecca Ferguson plays Jenny Lind, the Swedish singer whose tour with Barnum becomes a marketing stunt, and she delivers a performance that reads as cold and calculating. Zac Efron plays Phillip Carlyle, a newspaper illustrator who falls for Jenny Lind and becomes Barnum’s partner in the show, and he carries a charm that lifts some of the film’s weaker stretches.
Zendaya plays Lettie Lutz, the bearded lady who becomes Barnum’s star attraction, and her performance is the most emotionally honest in the film. Her rendition of “A Million Dreams” is the best vocal moment in the movie, a song about longing and identity that feels earned rather than staged. She grounds the film’s excess with a sense of dignity that the script doesn’t always extend to her.
The Problem With the Message
The Greatest Showman wants to be a story about acceptance and self-worth, and it comes close to succeeding. The performers in Barnum’s show are outcasts, and the film celebrates them as heroes. But the celebration is shallow. The film never asks whether Barnum’s exploitation of these performers is ethical, or whether his success comes at their expense. The show is a spectacle, and the performers are the fuel.
The film also flattens history to fit its message. Barnum was a controversial figure in his lifetime, a promoter who blurred the line between entertainment and deception. The film ignores that complexity, turning him into a champion of the downtrodden. This is a problem, because the film’s message — that everyone deserves a chance to shine — is undermined by the way it tells the story. The performers are celebrated, but they are also objects of pity and wonder, not full human beings.
The film’s final act is a series of climactic performances that are visually stunning but narratively hollow. The songs are bigger, the staging is more elaborate, but the emotional payoff is smaller. The film reaches for a grand finale, and it almost gets there, but the ending feels rushed and incomplete.
The Verdict
The Greatest Showman is a film with a heart, but that heart is trapped in a machine that cares more about spectacle than substance. The songs are the best part, and the performances are often excellent, but the story is a skeleton dressed in sequins. It’s a fun ride, but it’s not a meaningful one.
The film’s score sits at 4.8 out of 10, a middling mark that reflects its unevenness. It’s a film that will please audiences looking for a sing-along experience and frustrate those looking for a deeper engagement. It’s a film that knows how to entertain but doesn’t know how to challenge.
The film’s flaws are not fatal, but they are persistent. They keep the movie from reaching the heights it suggests it can. The songs are the reason to see it, and the performances are the reason to remember it, but the story is the reason to forget it.
Key Facts
– Title: The Greatest Showman
– Director: Michael Gracey
– Release year: 2017
– Score: 4.8 out of 10
Running Order
| # | Scene | Time |
|—|——-|——|
| 1 | Opening: Penny Museum | — |
| 2 | “Come Alive” | — |
| 3 | Barnum’s Home Life | — |
| 4 | Meeting the Performers | — |
| 5 | Jenny Lind Arrives | — |
| 6 | “A Million Dreams” | — |
| 7 | The American Museum Opens | — |
| 8 | Phillip Carlyle Joins the Team | — |
| 9 | “This Is Me” | — |
| 10 | The Circus Begins | — |
| 11 | Final Performance | — |
The film is a bright, noisy, and occasionally moving piece of entertainment, but it is not a great one. It is a celebration of individuality packaged as a mass spectacle. It is a film that understands the pull of a crowd, but it never questions the cost of that crowd’s approval. That cost is the film’s blind spot, and it keeps The Greatest Showman from greatness.
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