Post
by Ariel.of.Narnia » Sun Jan 21, 2018 6:59 am
So I went to see The Greatest Showman today. So far as content goes, my only complaint is some of the costumes and a scene in which a woman tries to cozy up with a married man. (Okay, and there's some drinking, including a scene that should have made the characters tipsy at the very least and another scene featuring a bunch of people sleeping in a pub.)
The themes are quite good. What will you risk to achieve a dream? Will you treat people with differences as people? How might success change you? As such, the main character's development had a good progression.
The movie focused more on the main character than I thought it would. That probably sounds strange, but I do mean it. I had expected other characters to take more spotlight than they did, but I think that, for the most part, they were only put in enough focus as was necessary. My one reservation on that with the romantic side-story: he sees a pretty girl, acts upon something she says, and then... they're tentatively holding hands and singing a romantic number? Seems to move pretty quickly. That said, though, I'm glad that their romance didn't eat up as much screentime as I thought it would. Center stage was rightly given to the main character.
I appreciated seeing the effect the main character's actions had on the people around him. It's a common thing to just follow the main character around, but this movie also takes the time to show us the character at a greater distance, the way the smaller characters see him. (I remember someone sitting behind me giving an understanding "hmm" during a particular shot of the movie.) There's one scene edited to contrast him against everyone else that I definitely liked.
Singing is on-point (except for one character whispering a bit of song... whispering and singing don't happen together) (and no too-high notes for Hugh Jackman, like in Les Mis!) and the dancing is fun to watch and edited well. (And something has to be said for the way they start the movie!) The music is also of fare I enjoy. There are a couple songs I'm not crazy about, but I found I liked them better within the context of the film better than on their own.
Overall, I liked it a good deal. I probably won't rank it among my favourite movies of all time, but I count it as above-average.
knight and scribe
lyrics from TobyMac's "New World"