Here's what the critics thought of 'The Greatest Showman'

Just months after the biggest traveling circus in the world packed up its big top tents and hung up its oversized clown shoes, The Greatest Showman attempted to capture the spirit of entrepreneur P.T. Barnum's start in the circus world in the form of a musical. Although the songs, dancing, and acrobatics were a lot of fun, the rest of the movie pretty much fell right on its face.

Read on for more of what the critics thought of The Greatest Showman.

The big picture

Bruan Truitt, USA Today:

Michael Gracey’s directorial debut ... is a disappointing circus of thinly developed characters, overly earnest melodrama and song-and-dance sequences that are more like unrelated music videos sewn together for a threadbare narrative. Hugh Jackman’s the ringmaster of this disjointed affair, though it’s not entirely his fault Barnum’s the least interesting part of his own movie.

What should have been an empowering film about outsiders and oddities finding their way in the world — and it’s there in frustrating bits and pieces — instead is a messy, misbegotten venture of a working-class man struggling with the ups and downs of becoming a show-business icon.

Mara Reinstein, Us Magazine:

It’s all right here in The Greatest Showman, a candy-coated spectacle that will either delight cheerful fans of all ages during this holiday season or make them search in vain for the mute button. In case it’s not obvious from the trailers, the performances are of the blustery jazz hands variety. Not the musical type? Out of luck. The narrative is peanuts.

Jason Zinoman, The New York Times:

The Greatest Showman, a montage sequence that occasionally turns into a movie musical, steers clear of any contemporary resonance and ignores meaty themes. The first-time director Michael Gracey achieves an aggressively synthetic style through kinetic editing and tidy underdog stories, but none of the true joy of pulling a fast one. It’s a standard-issue holiday biopic, one that tells a story about a populist entertainer hungry for highbrow respect, the joys of showbiz and the price of ambition. An amusement park version of P.T. Barnum is fine, as far as that goes, but if you are going to aim for family-friendly fun, you need to get the fun part right.

Song and dance

Mara Reinstein, Us Magazine:

The songs could have used more wit and sophistication. They’ll worm into your ear but won’t necessarily grip your soul. That’s because Michael Gracey, in his directorial debut, is trying so very hard to pull the strings. The strategy often backfires. If anything, the dejected bearded lady (Keala Settle) bellowing out a tune about how she just wants to be accepted veers close to a Saturday Night Live-esque digital short parody.

Alissa Wilkinson, Vox:

As Barnum, Jackman is in rare form, dancing and whirling and stamping and belting out tunes with such gusto that it feels like he’s a musical tiger someone finally let out of his cage. (This is a passion project for Jackman — it’s been eight years since it was first announced — so that may not be too far off.) His Barnum is genial, spirited, and madly in love with the world, especially his beautiful, extremely supportive wife Charity (Michelle Williams), with whom he fell in love when they were both children — he the son of a poor tailor, she the daughter of a wealthy snob.

Cherry-picking history

Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times:

In a more honest or at least more interesting version of The Greatest Showman, P.T. Barnum, famed American ringmaster and skilled exploiter of misfits and outcasts, would have been the villain rather than the hero. But where would be the fun, the uplift or the box-office potential in that?

Alissa Wilkinson, Vox:

The real P.T. Barnum was 60 when he got into the circus business, following careers as a freak show entrepreneur, a museum owner, and a concert promoter for the legendary Swedish soprano Jenny Lind in her first American tour. He was a temperance lecturer, a reformer, a four-term Connecticut state legislator, and the mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut. He was a legendary conman. He advocated for the 13th Amendment and also promoted blackface minstrelsy. He made a name for himself by engaging in what some have decried as dehumanization of the disabled. He engaged in what he called “profitable philanthropy,” giving away money but getting a boost in the process.

The Greatest Showman is in theaters Dec. 20.