Synopsis
The story of American showman P.T. Barnum, founder of the circus that became the famous traveling Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
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Cast
- Hugh JackmanP. T. Barnum
- Zac EfronPhillip Carlyle
- Michelle WilliamsCharity Barnum
- Rebecca FergusonJenny Lind
- ZendayaAnne Wheeler
- Keala SettleLettie Lutz
- Yahya Abdul-Mateen IIW. D. Wheeler
- Natasha Liu BordizzoDeng Yan
- Paul SparksJames Gordon Bennett
- Sam HumphreyCharles Stratton
Recommendations
- 90
Variety
The director, Michael Gracey, is an Australian maker of commercials who has never directed a feature before, and he works with an exuberant sincerity that can’t be faked. The Greatest Showman is a concoction, the kind of film where the pieces all click into place, yet at an hour and 45 minutes it flies by, and the link it draws between P.T. Barnum and the spirit of today is more than hype. - 75
Entertainment Weekly
The movie never quite stops feeling like Moulin Rouge! written in extra-large block font, or Broadway projected straight onto a big screen, which certainly isn’t bad news if that’s exactly what you love. - 67
IndieWire
Shamelessly familiar and profoundly alien in equal measure, The Greatest Showman takes a billion of the world’s oldest story beats and refashions their prefab emotions into something that feels like it’s being projected from another planet. - 63
Movie Nation
The Greatest Showman is, like the singing, dancing, versatile actor who stars in it, larger than life. And if this is the only screen musical we can get out of the last of his peak performing years, it’ll do. - 60
The Guardian
It’s not a film to break moulds or test boundaries. Yet Jackman’s real charm will carry you along. - 58
The Playlist
This whole endeavor never becomes as bewitching as it should be. It’s never more than adequate, and while P.T. Barnum will go down as one of the most interesting men in history, this film won’t pull off the same feat. - 50
The A.V. Club
For the most part, the movie’s ideas about Barnum are incredibly stupid and, at times, kind of sweet in their daftness. - 40
The New York Times
An amusement park version of P.T. Barnum is fine, as far as that goes, but if you are going to aim for family-friendly fun, you need to get the fun part right.
