The Greatest Showman Review: 5 Ups & 4 Downs

1. It Sanitises The Real-Life Story

Without question the most controversial aspect of the movie is how blatantly it sanitises the grimmer aspects of Barnum's life, namely his famously buying an elderly, black female slave and making a spectacle out of her (eventually even creating a paid event out of her live autopsy), as well as his generally dubious representations of black people and noted animal rights abuses.

The Greatest Showman instead wants to be a happy, peppy musical with virtually no reference made to the shadier side of Barnum's business: here he's seen as nothing but a charming go-getter, and while that's clearly more a financial decision than anything, it also makes this one of the more patently dishonest biographical films in recent memory.

Clearly, there's plenty of room for a gritty drama about Barnum's life to be made in the future, but this sure ain't it.

Problematic though the film undeniably is, it's also fitfully fun if you're willing to switch your brain off and just enjoy the ride. Here's what it got right...