Perhaps a little harsh, as I usually love musicals and some of the songs and dances were wonderful, dazzlingly brilliant and clever but it all had an underlying emptiness. Maybe it was the subject matter, no matter how you spin it it was about a showman exploiting people to make money. He lied, stole and cheated; not a particularly nice character. There was some change of heart at the end in this film version of Barnum's life, but apparently not in reality. Hugh Jackman was wonderful as were most of the cast and I wish they had been given a better story to tell. Was it made because it epitomises the "American dream", poor boy makes good and becomes famous and wealthy - at any cost - then finds his heart again? Because Hugh Jackman was in it I couldn't help but compare this to the brilliance of the story of Les Miserables, which is about things that matter, redemption, goodness etc As against this shallow, grasping man's life story.