You guys, I just saw The Greatest Showman and I absolutely LOVED it! You all need to go see it, whether you're a fan of the circus or not! I'm not crazy about the circus (mainly because clowns are terrifying), but this movie portrayed the beginning stages of the circus in an amazing and beautiful way. It already has Golden Globe nominations and it hasn't even been out for that long. I can see why!
I remember seeing the first trailer for the movie and thinking how good it looked. To summarize the plot of the movie, it's a story based on how P.T. Barnum created the Ringling Brothers into the circus it came to be. It has an all-star cast, the cinema spectacle is amazing, and it's a movie for all ages to see (thanks to the PG rating). However, I never intended to actually go see it in theaters. It wasn't until last weekend when I was hanging out with my sister Lauren and her fiancé Jordan (who works for a movie media company in Chicago). They were talking about how they got to see the movie in an early screening for his job and raved about how great it was. Since Jordan is a movie critic, I trusted his positive review. I decided to invite my grandmother and cousin Brittany to go see it with me on opening day. They thankfully both said yes, especially my grandmother who said yes right away because she has a huge crush on Hugh Jackman ...
We saw the movie yesterday on opening day, December 20th, and theater it was playing in was not that crowded. That didn't surprise me though because it's a smaller cinema and more people most likely went to see Star Wars: The Last Jedi. For some reason as the the previews were leading up to the movie, I was worried that I was going to be disappointed. Thankfully, I wasn't!
I wasn't expecting it to be an actual musical, and I think that's what made it so great! The lyrics were actually written by the same people who wrote the lyrics for songs in La La Land. Don't hate on me, but personally I thought The Greatest Showman was better than La La Land! The acting and singing was spot-on. Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Zendaya, and the actress who played the bearded lady all did so amazing and were perfect in their roles. When Zac Efron started singing, my heart filled up with joy as the memories from the High School Musicals days swam back to me! I love Zendaya for how multi-talented she is, as are all of the other actors/actresses in the movie. And of course, my grandmother was very pleased with Hugh Jackman who is perfect as always. I really believe this movie as a whole deserves several Oscars nominations, and I'll be pissed if it doesn't win at least one!
I had two favorite thing about the movie. 1) the soundtrack, which I downloaded on Spotify immediately after I came back home from the movie theater. 2) the inspirational message, which I always look for in every movie I watch.
One of the characters quoted something that really stuck out (SPOILER ALERT ... sort of) as he described the circus as a "celebration of humanity". And it truly was, it brought all different performers with different sizes, colors, and personalities together. And I think that's the message we need for society now more than ever, which makes the release of the film perfect timing. We are all humans created to be unique and different. We're all beautiful creations of God. Our uniqueness is what makes us all equal, and everyone is beautiful in their own way no matter how society judges beauty. I really thought about that while listening to the bearded lady's song "This Is Me", which I highly encourage you to listen to.
The movie also has a powerful message about never giving up on your dreams. That's the part I found most inspiring, especially since I'm a dream chasing kind of girl. The song "A Million Dreams" might be my favorite from the soundtrack for that reason. It's overall a true feel good movie!
I really hope you go see The Greatest Showman after reading this review! And if you already saw it, let me know your thoughts about it in the comments!