jonathanccederlund

I have a problem. It's a big one: I Do. Not. Understand. Who this movie wants me to root for!

Example: The only person I feel bad for during the entire movie, is the wife (Michelle Williams). That's not great, because there is A LOT of pain being caused to many characters, but everything else feels like it's played so completely superficially. It has absolutely no depth and nothing really seems to mean anything in the long run. And that could be okay for a movie like this, but you can't have it with some characters, and not with others!

Is Michelle Williams simply too good for this movie, is something I have asked myself. Possibly. Are the two different aspects, P. T Barnum's "normal" life with its motivations, and life with his performers, too different to make sense together? Maybe. Are things like that hideous beard they glued onto Keala Settle too much for me, and does it rip me straight out of the story? Definitely.

Someone told me once, if you leave the theatre/cinema with another emotion than the one you came with, the movie has done it's job.

So, sure.

But I left feeling more than a little put off. By... pretty much everyone. I have seen it many times since and my feelings are always the same. And that's INSANE, there are SO many good actors and singers! Hugh Jackman is, well, Hugh Jackman. Zendaya is great, Zac Efron is always a strong actor, Rebecca Ferguson does this character wonderfully. To be clear, I ADORE musicals, I LIKE these actors, I absolutely LOVE this music. But for me, pretty much every major character except Mrs Barnum (Williams), her father and the critic, are extremely off-putting, either because of their behavior or because how they are played. And those last two, are not the characters I'm supposed to feel something for!

Without the music this would get a 1. Listen to the music, watch the clips online if you feel like it, and let that be that.

I wasn't sure I was going to review this, because I am actually at a loss for words.

As a story teller I am OFFENDED. This is such a mess start to end. There is no narrative, just a gigantic "he said she said" fest, with absolutely nothing to back anything up, there is no new information, there is just no substance what so ever! This is very clearly an attempt to capitalize on the drama more than anything else, random stuff is randomly thrown in, some interviews are sprinkled in in between, and I don't end up feeling anything for anyone, and based on how all the women are depicted, I don't think this makers of this documentary does either.

What if Superman was evil? That is the question this movie wants us to ask, but I left the theatre with other questions. Like, how come all of this kid's first decade on Earth shown in a montage of VHS home-footage? Why do we get pretty much ZERO character development from any character at all? And why are there ONE MILLION jump-scares that all result in the exact same thing, and are all shown by flashing lights? This movie and this story had SO MUCH potential. That potential was put through an old, whiny paper shredder, and instead we got this. All the actors were great, and yet I felt absolutely nothing, for anyone or anything. Through the entire movie. If you liked this movie at all, I envy you. I just want my money back, and I didn't even pay for my ticket.