As soon as this movie came out, all I heard about from my friends was how good it was. It was aired for the first time on Dec. 20, 2017 but I waited to see it until mid-July of 2018. This movie was inspired by the imagination of P.T. Barnum. It is a musical that displays the birth or show business and tell a story about a man who came from nothing and developed a spectacle with unique and talented people that became a worldwide sensation.

To me, the story was a little bit odd at times but I still found it very entertaining as it held my attention the entire hour and forty-six minutes. The movie began with the main character played by Ellis Rubin, as a child, meeting his future wife, played by Skylar Dunn, at her house where P.T. Barnum’s dad was a tailor for Charity Winthrop’s dad. The two grow up and reconnect, soon getting married. Actors Hugh Jackman and Michelle Williams play the older P.T. and Charity.

Barnum has plans to start a show business, which is a long journey for the family, now with two daughters to take care of. Charity changes her way of living from riches to rags and supports her husband along the way. Barnum eventually finds a loan big enough to allow him to get a building for his show and begins to look for people with unique talents and features.

The show begins with Anne Wheeler and W.D. Wheeler as trapeze artists, scrutinized for their race. Charles Stratton who is a judged for being a dwarf. Lettie Lutz who has a strong and powerful voice but is a woman with a full-sized beard, and many other strange characters that can sing and dance. Eventually, Barnum convinced Phillip Carlyle, played by Zac Efron, who is a very talented playwright, to join his circus and help him conduct it. Later, past opera singer Jenny Lid joins Barnum as the two travel all around the world for her to sing for big audiences.

Throughout the movie, the cast undergoes many setbacks such as people from the town not accepting them. Eventually, the circus becomes a worldwide phenomenon and has people traveling from all over just to watch the odd group. There are a few relationships that form between characters that create major conflicts as well for different reasons.

The movie finishes with a huge problem being solved and a happy ending as many could assume, but no part of it could be entirely expected. I for one think that it was a very good movie and have proceeded to watch it many more times in the past few months. I found parts of it a bit odd but for the most part, the storyline was well written and entertaining.

As for the soundtrack, I cannot count the number of times I have listened to some of those songs on repeat. The song list from the movie is The Greatest Show, A Million Dreams, Come Alive, The Other Side, Never Enough, This Is Me, Rewrite the Stars, Tightrope, and From Now On. My personal favorites, and I think many people agree with me on these, are Never Enough and This Is Me. Those two songs not only are played at the climaxes of the movie, but are very catchy with fun rhythms.

I recommend this movie to anyone who has not had the opportunity to see it yet. If you do not want to watch the movie, at least listen to the music because you will definitely get hooked on it. I can honestly say this was not like any other movie I have ever seen and the storyline is unique but inspirational.