In the midst of the current musical resurgence that has produced hits like Hamilton and La La Land on both the screen and the stage, The Greatest Showman tries desperately to capitalize on the trend. However, it is limited by a lack of identity and unwillingness to take risks.

Let me preface this by saying that this is not a bad movie. For an audience of families and children, this movie is very palatable and safe, but those qualities are what held it back from approaching greatness.

From a visual standpoint, this film had a more-than-noticeable identity crisis and a complete lack of style or design, constantly switching back and forth from poorly rendered CGI to actual choreography. This became incredibly obnoxious when entire structures, set pieces, and even water droplets that could have looked leagues better if done practically were all computer generated.

The plot was bogged down by underdeveloped relationships and poorly paced subplots. The entire relationship between characters played by Zac Efron and Zendaya was very poorly developed, mainly due to the fact that they never held a conversation longer than 3 lines outside of songs.

Speaking of which, the song sequences in The Greatest Showman lack the quality of those of greater musicals for a handful of reasons. Firstly, few of the songs had narrative weight. The majority of the songs didn’t progress the plot at all, and instead just offered a prefab pop song that is vaguely related to the theme of the film.

From a directive standpoint, The Greatest Showman lacked the cinematography necessary to film good musical routines. Song sequences in La La Land were so visually stunning because they used all real set pieces and effects and were shot in a series of long, continuous wide shots that had been rigorously choreographed. Shots in The Greatest Showman were full of unnecessary cuts and close-ups that detracted from a spectacle that could have demonstrated cinematic and directorial prowess. So while The Greatest Showman is a “fun family movie”, it doesn’t hold a torch to the musical precedent that has been set.