The story of American showman P.T. Barnum, founder of the circus that became the famous traveling Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
The critics have been really harsh on this movie. While not a great movie, it's still good enough to be enjoyed by kids during the holiday season. There are fun musical numbers and Hugh Jackman excels in his role as Barnum. It's not meant to be a realistic biopic. It's an enjoyable musical fantasy.
Pretty solid movie if you are into that kind of movies (musicals). Audio fine tuning to the songs were in fact somewhat excessive, but to my opinion the movie was meant to be viewed in theaters with loud sounds so everything "should" sound nearly perfect. The songs and dancing acts were well performed and I really liked Hugh Jackman's acting. Overall, it's a pleasant movie to watch and perhaps even worth watching twice.
I thought that this was a terrible idea way before I ever saw the movie itself, and I thought this was a terrible movie way before I ever found out what P.T. Barnham was actually like. What a toilet fire in every sense, this is one of those rare examples where I just can't understand what everyone is loving here.
Final rating:½: - Boring/disappointing. Avoid where possible.
one of the musicals that bring you joy in life
Like many other folks, I have a sort of allergy to hype: particularly when it is built on power ballads and an actor who just doesn't "belong" in the role. I also saw Michael Crawford doing his "Barnum" thing on stage in 1982 - so to be fair, my expectations of this were not especially high. I was pleasantly surprised! Jackman as the street urchin son of an itinerant tailor with grand dreams is really pretty good. He brings oodles of charisma to the part of P.T. Barnum determined to win the love of "Charity" (Michelle Williams), despite her being from a wealthy family living well beyond his meagre means. The chronology of his actual achievements - his marriage, family and his American Museum of Curiosities morphing into a circus of all thin...
