Quote from BabyShark on December 30, 2019, 1:26 pm

I can't believe it took me this long to see @ring62's favorite movie that he's been advertising for as long as I can remember.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much. I already had a favorite circus movie (The Greatest Show on Earth produced by Cecil B. Demille with one of my favorite actors, Charlton Heston). I was skeptical that another movie could compare to it.

The newer film is very, very different from the oldie. It isn't trying to be a remake.

I was pleasantly surprised, first by the richness of the visuals onscreen, and second, the charm of the characters in spite of their limited verbiage, and third, by hearing one of the best movie soundtracks I've ever heard. I fell in love with the music. Most of it I never heard before, with the exception of A Million Dreams. Now I listen to it every day all day!

Somehow, even though the talking is limited, you still get pulled into the character stories.

The music scenes are spectacular. Tightrope by Michelle Wiliams and Never Enough by Jenny Lind and Rewrite the Stars by Zac Efron and Zandaya are the most impressively done songs in movies I've seen, ever. I'm bewildered how they manage to be singing perfectly while swinging around upside down on ropes in perfect harmony.

The onscreen romance between those two characters had zero development at all. They just look at each other and suddenly are in love without ever even talking once.

But their flying in the sky scene was mesmerizing all the same. Interestingly, Efron described his kiss with his co-star in this film as his best on screen kiss of his entire career.

I love Charity. She's a rare feminine character who embraces love, family, and children, and Michelle Williams is gloriously and radiantly beautiful in Greatest Showman. Her smile and joy feel completely real. Her singing is beyond gorgeous. She embodies female perfection here.

Hugh Jackman's character is the flawed one. He is charming and winsome, but gets lost in his quest for stardom, praise, and fame.

There is thought food in this melange as well, on themes like the way we treat other people based on our value judgements in appearance, intelligence, wealth, fame, and power.

I didn't expect to enjoy this movie nearly as much as I did.

One of the ways I rate how good a movie is is with the simple question, "Would you watch it again?"

Here, the answer is a resounding, "YES!"