"The Greatest Showman" received huge differences in word-of-mouth feedback from critics and fans, with Metascore giving a media overall rating of only 48 points, and IMDB and Douban online audience ratings of 8.0 and 7.7 points, respectively. The reason is actually already written in the title of the film - the film is plainly translated as "The Great Entertainer" in Taiwan, as if to remind the critics who have always been critical that the film is only responsible for providing amusement (entertainment) and has no ambition to play the muse (muse).
King of the Circus poster
The film contains 106 minutes of song and dance, which is of course too rushed than the typical Broadway musical, which is nearly two and a half hours long. The plot urges the valley music, the music drives the plot, and the beginning and end of the movie can be regarded as one go. The transitional transition section is fleeting and does not leave the audience blank. ——A game is a dream, and "The King of the Circus" understands that the essence of show is to take the audience into a dream. The film's flowing story arrangement, the camera positioning angle, the intention is to serve here: to make the audience feel like they are in the scene of the musical performance, and immersed in it.
The film does not seek retro, and the theme is to "reshape" history from a purely contemporary perspective — the film is not originally a biopic, but it still gives contemporary audiences who have no chance to visit Broadway and Hollywood's golden age, a chance to reminisce about the glory of the superstars of the past. This may not be fair to the current active film and television drama stars, but the times create heroes, and the peak era of song and dance films has passed. "The City of Philharmonic" set off a small wave, "The King of the Circus" is another small wave on the tip of the wave, although it is not a lonely fang, it is still worth cherishing and appreciating by the flower people.
Hollywood stars are convinced by their ability to do business. Top superstars are inevitable. The image of "Uncle Wolf" Hugh Jackman's "rough guy" is deeply rooted in science fiction action movies, and Chinese audiences may still be attracted by his personable demeanor for the first time from "Snowflake Secret Fan" starring Li Bingbing and Quan Zhixian. In fact, Hugh Jackman's musical theater skills are solid, hosting many Tony Awards parties, and has also shown himself at the Oscar awards party. In "Les Misérables", Jean Valjean played, the appearance, acting, and singing skills were all first-class, but the actor chose to hide his personal charm and become a role of achievement.
"The King of the Circus" is the full firepower of the individual talent show, and the identity of the "big entertainer" as a character in the play is used to refer to a certain section of Hugh Jackman's artistic career. Equally damaging, the charm has been seen in Gene Kelly ("In the Rain"), Fred Astaire ("Sweet Sister"), Rex Harrison ("Lady Miao"), and contemporary audiences have been lucky to find Hugh Jackman.
Stills from The King of the Circus
The younger generation is also remarkable. Zach Efron debuted from Disney's "Song and Dance Youth" and sang and danced well. Going around, he returned to "The King of the Circus" to act in song and dance films, and his skills were not unfamiliar. Zandaa, who plays Ann Wheeler, is impressive enough if the audience fails to recognize the dancing companion in Beyoncé's music video Lemonade, the trapeze artist character in "King of the Circus". Rebecca Ferguson is a heroic action actress in "Mission Impossible 5", and plays the classical singer Jenny Linde in "The King of the Circus", dignified and elegant, which also makes the audience unforgettable.
Zach Efron and Zandaj, stills from The King of the Circus
Rebecca Ferguson as singer Jenny Linde
Compared to the star-studded cast, the play "King of the Circus" itself is eclipsed. The film downplays the less glamorous and cruel side of the real people it relies on, and the optimistic imagination that "only by being different can you change the world" is essentially generating electricity with love. In the history of mankind for thousands of years, from the party to the common to the pursuit of common ground while reserving differences, the road of "unity under the heavens" has been long and arduous, and although the dawn is promising, the road ahead is dangerous. "The King of the Circus" hits the highlight on the protagonist P.T. Barnum, and the circus's "strangers" become the background of the blur. The film sings an ode to individual heroism, and the rest of the characters are nothing more than a borrowing force for the hero's career ambitions. The hero once lost his way and returned through setbacks. The film also ends with the hero returning to the family, which is a small pattern of retreating to a safe corner.
P.T. Barnum's pragmatic credo has helped him achieve personal career success and to the film's special populations, albeit primarily on an economic level. "Since it is to be made fun of, why not use the teasing to make money", this logic is based on extremely realistic and shrewd material considerations, which is not noble, but obviously effective. In a sense, the endless "ugly" live broadcast "celebrities" of contemporary times are the inheritance of the spirit of P.T. Barnum. "The King of the Circus" carefully portrays P.T. Barnum as a "dreamer" like Walt Disney, and even his partner Jenny Lind is heartbroken, a character not set out of "for His Holiness", but purely to meet the moral needs of the audience to watch the film - the hunt seems to be not worthy of publicity, if not despised.
P.T. Barnum's seemingly ambiguous affair with Jenny Lind was apparently born out of their tight bondage as business partners. The film is handled as the woman's wishful thinking, the courtship can not be broken and the cooperation is broken, leaving a desolate posture. "The King of the Circus" inadvertently copies Martin Scorsese's "Age of Innocence", and the film only completes the twist of the plot by this, and is still a cliché used in song and dance films.
The circus in the film, which was criticized as a Freakshow in the era of the story, certainly seems derogatory today, and in the nineteenth century, it is a true reflection of the true mentality of the masses. Contemporary audiences have become unfamiliar with the strange costumes on the pride parade, and even "politically incorrect" words such as "disabled people" are gradually being replaced by more moderate "people with disabilities", so that it is easy for viewers to forget and ignore the real-life encounters and dilemmas of special people. "The King of the Circus" fuels this kind of peace of mindful forgetfulness and neglect. The dwarfs, bearded ladies, tattooed men, black trapeze artists, etc. in the movie, at least the casting will never bring discomfort to the audience. Lady Beard's song "This is me", like Elsa's "Let it go" in "Frozen", emphasizes self-recognition more than social recognition, and can only be sought from the outside.
Lady Beard, stills from The King of the Circus
The circus is a utopia of "freaks" huddled together to keep warm, a utopia that is in danger of being surrounded by the malice of society. Malice comes from the villains of the lower strata of society, as well as from the gentry of the upper and middle classes of society. "The King of the Circus" depicts the atmosphere of the times, the tone is warm, and the language is unknown. The confrontation between mutants and ordinary people in the "X-Men" series, the boys and girls in "Miss Pei's Fantasy Castle" hiding from the hunting of Harrow's monsters, and even the spiritual poison of salem's witch case in "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" are all alluded to the social landscape with fantasy stories, and the grasp of the cold atmosphere is more real and close.
The plot arrangement of the circus destroyed by arson, not rebuilt on the ruins, and the tent set up in the suburbs is also like a metaphor: the joy of the exiled does not come from the mainstream accommodation, but can only create a new world. Another plot that constitutes a mirror image is P.T. Barnum's longing for the integration into mainstream society, which is finally realized through his daughter. The "freaks" hiding in tents to become unified, and the new rich becoming old money, seem to be happy for everyone, but they are actually helpless compromises on reality.
"The King of the Circus" is the longest-running musical on Broadway, after a small wind and a wave, singing and dancing, singing and dancing. While deconstructed musicals like The Book of Mormon and The Enchanted Bad Witch stand on Broadway, Mamma Mia and Jersey Boys are just as long-lasting. The audience needs fun. "The King of the Circus" is a Spring Festival gala, an entertainment show with no ambition. The plot of the film is a plain bead chain, the only function of which is to connect a golden song that is as round and glowing as a pearl. The entertainment of the film is impeccable. For the audience, entertainment is good. What does that sentence say? The most important thing about being a human being is to be happy.