| It looks to me like it leans more towards Moulin Rouge, which was an unstudied romp through every fable, trope, and cliche that could be ripped off from Camille, Can Can, La Boheme and whatever other fin de siècle source they could drag up. I can't imagine a movie or musical that celebrates Barnum without being grounded in at least some of the realities of the mid-19th Century era that produced him. The idea of glorifying "fly your freak flag" in a time when our country was wrestling with immigration, slavery, urbanization, and the second wave of the industrial revolution seems misguided at best. Even the second-rate b'way musical "Barnum" seems more grounded than this. |
