Hugh Jackman stars as P.T. Barnum in Michael Gracey’s film about the showman. Love London Love Culture rounds up the reviews…
Empire: *** “It races along at a breakneck pace and occasionally stumbles into mawkishness, but is carried along by Hugh Jackman’s total commitment and some appallingly catchy songs.”
Variety: “The numbers in “The Greatest Showman” have a dance-pop fire that keeps you hooked, and that bursting-out quality recalls, at times, the spirit of Moulin Rouge!”
The Times: * “Hugh Jackman cracks the whip as PT Barnum, but the clowns were in charge of this film.”
The Guardian: *** “a celebratory and euphoric entertainment which is not overly concerned with dramatic or psychological consistency. It is all about the mood, the feel, the general sugar rush of euphoria.”
Deadline: “It is worth catching if you care about original movie musicals at all. No, it is not La La Land, but it is not meant to be and it fits the bill nicely for 2017. ”
Hollywood Reporter: “This is a movie that works way too hard at its magic, continually prompting us with insistent music cues to feel excitement that just isn’t there.”
Vulture: “The Greatest Showman’s factual fakery isn’t what makes it so aggravating. It’s the fakery on every other level — lyrical, dramatic, and social.”
The Telegraph: ** “it’s amazing Efron and Jackman are as watchable as they are, considering the film daren’t paint either of their characters are anything more complex than earnest eccentrics just trying to spread some happiness around.”
Time Out: *** “But while it may not be strong on nuance and the story moves with all the careful pacing of a human cannonball, it’s got gusto and verve in abundance. An old-fashioned musical with a none-more-zeitgeisty songsheet, it may not be a flawless piece of storytelling, but it’s a pretty decent show.”
Den of Geek: *** “The Greatest Showman is a victim of its own ambition and fails to quite meet the lofty heights it sets out for itself.”
Express: *** “There are some instantly hummable tunes, from Come Alive to Rewrite The Stars. The big hit number is This Is Me and it will raise the roof.”
The Daily Mail: *** “there are flashes of dazzling spectacle, and plenty of excellent choreography. As a potted history of the Barnum legend, the film does a decent job, too.”
Paste Magazine: “Gracey wants us to see The Greatest Showman for the show. That’s certainly possible. It’s equally as impossible to watch the film without feeling uncomfortable knowing what he’s left out of the picture.”
Radio Times: **** “what it is in essence is a joyously uplifting potpourii of visual resplendence, stylish choreography and solid gold magic, one engineered to approximate the lavish spectacle the movie musical once offered.”
The Upcoming: **** “Director Michael Gracey’s newest film has all right ingredients for a musical motion picture, highlighting the colourful extravaganza of Barnum’s show as well as facing the trials of showmanship and the pitfalls of bringing something “different” to the public.”
The Wrap: “Where “The Greatest Showman” stumbles is in not having a deceptive, rascally bone in its impatient, obvious, imagination-challenged body.”
The Greatest Showman is in cinemas now.