The Greatest Showman

An attempt at a grand musical spectacular, "Greatest Showman" throws a lot at the screen - a splashy visual style out of "Moulin Rouge", a score of contemporary-sounding R&B numbers, a cast full of unusual figures, a lead character who rises through a whole lot of spin, and one of the few bankable leading men who has a genuine song-and-dance background. It's still a bit of a shemozzle, unfortunately - the songs have a tendency to be full of pseudo-inspirational lyrics that never really get anywhere beyond their opening declarations, and the script is much more comfortable depicting Barnum's rise than it is with finding anything interesting to do once he's got there. 

Hugh Jackman has a winning presence but he's largely trying very hard in aid of very little for an awful lot of the film. Michelle Williams has even less to do as his wife - she's probably never looked as radiant on screen as she has in this film, but her role just requires her to sit in the background and be the compliant wife right up until the point where she, very briefly, walks away (only to come right back with very little argument). Zac Efron as his eventual business partner has a bit more to do - and the Jackman/Efron duet is one of the highlights of the film as they both sing, dance and down multiple shots of whisky as Jackman tempts him into getting into the more disreputable sides of showbiz. Zendaya as a trapeze artist and love interest for Efron gets the other highlight number as they dance around each other while she swings across the arena, rising and falling in a gravity-defying pas de deux. Rebecca Ferguson has undoubtable presence but, again, her singer Jenny Lind feels required just to stand there and look pretty (and belt out another contempo-ballad). 

There's an over-reliance on dramatic acapella beginnings of songs in over-dramatic reprises, and a general sense of style over substance. It's by no means a cinematic atrocity, but it is an awful lot of sound and fury signifying not very much.