Confession time: I am admittedly a devotee of musical cinema, having enjoyed countless cinematic musicals throughout the years, even ones that are not considered very good (looking at you, Mamma Mia!). However, I can recognize when a musical is extraordinarily special, and also when it is subpar and mediocre. Unfortunately (because it’s better to get straight to the point), the latest cinematic musical, The Greatest Showman, tends towards the latter category, based on my first impression of the film after watching it. However, I refuse to suggest that its countless flaws make this film anything other than enjoyable (if not particularly groundbreaking) entertainment, which is saved by some factors that redeem it from being contrived torture. The Greatest Showman is not particularly good, but I did enjoy it, and I feel like it is quintessential holiday viewing – mindlessly fun and wonderfully entertaining. Its a lot better than I was expecting, but I still was hoping for much more in the end. However, it is something that I do think it far better than what it appears to be, despite its many flaws, mainly because it has a beautifully honest sense of genuine heart and soul, and that is certainly worth something.

The Greatest Showman is based on the life and career of historical showman Phineas Taylor Barnum (Hugh Jackman), known as one of the co-founders of the Barnum & Bailey Circus (surprisingly, the other half of this iconic entertainment duo was almost entirely erased from this film, only appearing very vaguely in the character Zac Efron plays), and tracks his career from an unemployed clerk to an ambitious showman who decides to pander to the inherent human interest in the macabre and unconventional (what we popularly call “freak” culture). He slowly pieces together the group of misfits and talents that form the basis for his wildly successful, innovative circus, while also trying to balance his personal life with his two daughters and his wife and childhood sweetheart Charity (Michelle Williams), who chooses to blindly trust and follow her husband in his pursuits of his dreams and ambitions, even when it seems that failure is lurking nearby. The film follows the trials and tribulations Barnum has to experience through the process of constructing his entertainment empire, the seeds of which still persist to this day in modern entertainment, not only being strictly restricted to the realm of the circus.

I have to be perfectly honest: I was expecting much worse from The Greatest Showman, and I can confirm that my expectations were not entirely met, which is a very good thing because it proves that The Greatest Showman is much less of a disaster than it appeared to be. I really want to start by talking about what this film got wrong because there were some factors that came close to ruining this film, as well as some redeeming qualities which helped distract from the problematic flaws that threatened to make The Greatest Showman unbearable. There are some merits in this film that make it quite an entertaining experience, but also an abundance of flaws that prevent it from soaring as much as it could have, or reaching the potential that it clearly had. Yet, the problems with The Greatest Showman do not detract from some of its better moments. Very few films are as evenly divided between positive and negative qualities as The Greatest Showman, a film that I found to have many issues, but also a great heart and soul that made it almost irresistibly charming, and very different from the mediocre experience that I was expecting.

Perhaps the biggest problem with The Greatest Showman is that it does not have what most wonderful and notable musical films have: great performances, which is odd considering the cast is filled with diverse talent. There was not a single performance in The Greatest Showman that actually impressed me that much, or left much of an impact. Everyone here (meaning those with professional acting experience) have been better in other films, and The Greatest Showman is a career highlight for absolutely no one in this film, except for some of the minor supporting performers, who surprisingly prove to be much better than the more well-known members of the cast. None of the performances in The Greatest Showman are particularly bad, but they are relatively uninspired, conventional and tragically disappointing, considering the pedigree of the cast, who are usually given much better than what they did here, and while it can be argued that they did not have much to do with the final film, they managed to do their best, but ultimately, the film just sold them a little too short, and did not serve to be an adequate showcase for their wonderful talents, even if it does try to utilize them as much as possible.

There is not any conceivable way to deny that Hugh Jackman is a truly talented individual, and his ability to effortless oscillate between appearing as a gruff action protagonist in a superhero film, to lending his unique talents to the Broadway stage has set him up to be one of the most charismatic and versatile actors working today. The Greatest Showman seems to be the archetypal Hugh Jackman performance – a heroic, charming and audacious individual setting out to achieve a specific dream. It also helps that he is a true showman (anyone who doesn’t believe this statement just needs to watch the 81st Academy Awards, which Jackman hosted), and the role of P.T. Barnum was tailor-made for Jackman, mirroring many of Jackman’s most endearing qualities. He is very good in the film, but he is usually this great, and there is nothing in The Greatest Showman that we have not seen from Jackman before in other films (he was also one of the saving graces of the otherwise tragically awful and misguided cinematic rendering of the iconic and influential musical adaptation Les Misérables), and while Jackman is about as good as you’d expect, he is just so magnetic and alluring in his classical talents here that make him a perfect fit for the role. Jackman is just so effortlessly talented, and while he may not be particularly groundbreaking in The Greatest Showman, he is consistently great.

Here is someone who is definitely not consistently great: Zac Efron. I have nothing against Efron, and I think he is one of the more talented performers to ever come out of Disney Channel. He has shown to have a promising career, but he has also been in some utter trash throughout the years. Unfortunately, despite The Greatest Showman being a much better film than the likes of Dirty Grandpa and Baywatch, Efron is just really very good in it, but not for a lack of trying. He certainly does his best with this performance, and while he has some great moments, he just seems entirely inappropriate for the role he was given (there was something about Efron playing an apparently acclaimed, high society playwright that was wholly unconvincing), and only in his moments as the romantic core of the film does he manage to play into his natural charms. Michelle Williams, who actually is consistently great, is once again underused (she was unfortunately wasted in Manchester by the Sea last year), and her character is not developed enough to be interesting (this speaks to a wider problem with the film, which I will discuss later on). Williams does put in an effort – everyone in The Greatest Showman gives this film their best shot throughout – but the character is just not worthy of her own unique talents. Everyone except for Hugh Jackman just seems to have been cast on a sheer whim, without any attempt to create characters who are anything more than archetypal figures that are found in every film of this ilk.

The supporting cast of The Greatest Showman is actually more impressive than the main cast. In particular, Keala Settle had a breakthrough performance as Lettie, the bearded lady with an explosively great voice that leaves the audience shaking after her definitive number “This Is Me” (a song destined to become a taut self-empowerment anthem, not entirely undeserved. It is a great song). I was also quite fond of Sam Humphrey in his small performance as Charles Stratton, otherwise known as General Tom Thumb (and there is absolutely no pun intended there in my use of “small” in describing his performance). Rebecca Ferguson has some wonderful moments as the diva Jenny Lind, and Zendaya continues to prove herself to be a talent to watch with her mature and powerful performance as the trapeze artist, who seems to be a bit too bitter for her own good (and considering the racial undercurrent that runs through The Greatest Showman, it is not entirely unjustified). The problem I alluded to with The Greatest Showman is that this is a film that just does not care about its characters. There are introductions to so many characters, mainly performers in the circus, that just do not go anywhere. Some characters go unnamed and are without a single line, which is a pity considering this film devoted a large portion to characters such as those played by Efron and Ferguson, that was almost entirely unnecessary, and the focus on these disposable characters detracted from the more fascinating characters that occurred throughout this film, mostly the circus performers. I would have preferred some more focus on some of the minor characters, enough to justify the self-empowering message this film carries.

However, as previously mentioned, The Greatest Showman is certainly not without its merits, and there is one aspect of this film that redeems it and elevates it considerably: the soundtrack. The Greatest Showman is a rare musical film in the way that it is entirely original, consisting of songs written specifically for this film. It isn’t any surprise that the music and lyrics of The Greatest Showman were written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the composers of another highly-acclaimed original musical, an obscure gem known as La La Land. I appreciated the dedication to creating entirely original music for this film, and while I was initially reluctant (considering that Pasek and Paul also composed the music and lyrics for Dear Evan Hansen, a show that I can only describe as manipulative and saccharine, which is being kind, but I digress), I found The Greatest Showman to have an absolutely tremendous soundtrack, with a score heavily inspired by modern music rather than traditional stage musical fare. For every flaw in the narrative of The Greatest Showman, such as the complete and utter dismissal of making the characters even vaguely interesting, it is mended by the exceptional music. There is just something about the music of The Greatest Showman – the ballads are just more powerful, and the performances just soar beautifully high. Aided by beautiful production design, the musical numbers are simply incredible, and are alone worth the price of admission. The music is natural, charming and beautifully-composed, and certainly are good enough to be standalone pieces, not being strictly resisted to the context in which they are used in the film. Highlights include the energetic “Come Alive”, the hilarious “The Other Side”, “This is Me”, which I have already mentioned as being a great and empowering song, as well as “The Greatest Show”, an enormous and impressive number that bookends this film. Without any sense of hyperbole, The Greatest Showman is only worth watching for the music, and the sheer audacity to compose entirely original music is admirable and is just worth noting, and it does not go unappreciated.

The Greatest Showman was not that bad, and I found it to be so much better than I was expecting it to be. It is not perfect in any way, and it does feature some particularly weak character development which fails to be improved by the performances of the actors, who give their most admirable efforts, but just aren’t able to make these characters interesting, with some of them being particularly poorly-written and unremarkable. However, the grandiose visual scope of this film, paired with the fantastic original music makes it really wonderful holiday viewing, and a harmless, lovely film that proves to be an entertaining experience. Detractors may consider The Greatest Showman to be torture, but I found it to be much better than it could have been, and I left the cinema thoroughly charmed. It is prototypical “feel-good” entertainment, and it is definitely not perfect – but it never claimed to be, rather delivering on its promise to be a sweet, charming original musical, and something I actually really did enjoy, in spite of all its faults.