Wow. Just, wow. That is one of the best musicals I have likely ever seen.
This movie follows P. T. Barnum (which I will get to later) as he struggles to fulfill his dream to make something of himself to show his father in law he is worthy of Charity. And so, we see how the circus was born!
Two views will be discussed: the movie, and how it compares to the real man.
The acting was great, the music was wonderful though mostly non-traditional musical numbers. The plot pulled at your heart in all the right ways and really was a great feel good movie.
Honestly, I don’t know if I can say enough praise about how good the movie was!
On the flip side, it was barely recognisable as the actual person’s story.
For one, they glazed over and removed so much of Barnum’s life. He was a busy, busy, man. He was mayor of a town at one point, moved to New York (and likely didn’t know his wife from such a young age, though I didn’t get that far in my research).
I do know that Barnum was a business man, was not the first circus, that his museum actually did quite well, and that he worked for a circus at one point before he opened the museum. Also, we didn’t get to see the mermaid. Oh, and he had 4 daughters. And he was obsessed with money.
He and Jenny Lynn never had anything between them, and that, while the performance was beautiful, the character was not accurate at all.
So, while some aspects of the movie were true(-ish), overall, don’t use this movie to discuss his life. Nope nope.
However, as just a movie, it was great!
