BY RILEY VRADENBURG (‘18)
The Greatest Showman was honestly… a circus.
The movie was inspired by the true story of P.T. Barnum; P.T., short for Phineus Taylor, was the founder of the Ringling Bros. and the Barnum & Bailey Circus. The overall storyline reflects Barnum’s rise from the lower levels of society.
The movie started out by introducing a very cute and crowd-pleasing young love story between the daughter of a rich man and the son of a man who worked for him. The two children dreamt of being together, but knew their love was forbidden. This was a very intriguing beginning for the audience. Barnum’s dad dies and he is forced to live on the streets. And yes, I’m not going to lie, I shed a tear or two. However, this was only the beginning of a continuous spiral.

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jr9QtXwC9vc

The movie flashes forward to when the two are finally together and barely scraping by with their two children. Barnum decides that he needs to start a museum, which does not end up working out, and then he goes on the hunt for his group of people with gimmicks and strange talents.
Overall, I think that the story had potential, however was not executed in the best possible way. The movie contained too many storylines that were overwhelming for the viewers like myself. I always appreciate a good love story, but there were almost three intertwined into one movie.
The Greatest Showman was disappointing in the end and I probably would not watch it again by choice.