I love literature, and I love French writer Victor Hugo who gave the world gems like The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Miserables, on which this musical is based.
Personally, I do not like musicals, but I decided to watch this adaptation to see what the fuss is all about(considering that I never completely finished reading the novel). Within the first seconds, I was bombarded with singing that instantly turned me off. I love the story, but it was just too over-the-top with the singing, it absolutely made me cringe, especially when Russell Crowe started to sing. His interpretation of the Inspector Javert character was completely bland. For me, the singing removed away the dramatic significance of some of the scenes, such as when Jean Valjean (played by Hugh Jackman)met the bishop who gave him the two candlesticks. Furthermore, the singing throughout the movie is merely for pure entertainment and removes the significance of dialogue in the interactions that the characters make, because dialogue has been replaced with singing (yes, I know its a musical) and it makes the whole thing extremely superficial.
I don't know why I was expecting much from this pretentious piece of cinema that somehow butchers a great piece of literature. I would rather look for the 2000 French mini-series and watch it again.
The only saving grace of this movie were the amazing, excellent performances of Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean, Anne Hathaway as the whore Fantine, Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen as the comical, thieving, greedy Thenardiers. The fact that Hugh Jackman lost weight and practiced singing for the role shows that he is indeed a well rounded character. Anne Hathaway did indeed deserve and Oscar for her role here which she plays with such emotion; she stands out among the whole cast. As for the rest, beginning with Crowe as Javert and Amanda Seyfried as Cosette, their portrayals are nothing to write home about. Russell Crowe's singing is horrendous, and his character here seems to have no purpose because the signing fails to establish any reasonable context to the actions that the characters take and what they are doing what they are doing.
The setting and costumes were also OK.
Personally, I do not like musicals, but I decided to watch this adaptation to see what the fuss is all about(considering that I never completely finished reading the novel). Within the first seconds, I was bombarded with singing that instantly turned me off. I love the story, but it was just too over-the-top with the singing, it absolutely made me cringe, especially when Russell Crowe started to sing. His interpretation of the Inspector Javert character was completely bland. For me, the singing removed away the dramatic significance of some of the scenes, such as when Jean Valjean (played by Hugh Jackman)met the bishop who gave him the two candlesticks. Furthermore, the singing throughout the movie is merely for pure entertainment and removes the significance of dialogue in the interactions that the characters make, because dialogue has been replaced with singing (yes, I know its a musical) and it makes the whole thing extremely superficial.
I don't know why I was expecting much from this pretentious piece of cinema that somehow butchers a great piece of literature. I would rather look for the 2000 French mini-series and watch it again.
The only saving grace of this movie were the amazing, excellent performances of Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean, Anne Hathaway as the whore Fantine, Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen as the comical, thieving, greedy Thenardiers. The fact that Hugh Jackman lost weight and practiced singing for the role shows that he is indeed a well rounded character. Anne Hathaway did indeed deserve and Oscar for her role here which she plays with such emotion; she stands out among the whole cast. As for the rest, beginning with Crowe as Javert and Amanda Seyfried as Cosette, their portrayals are nothing to write home about. Russell Crowe's singing is horrendous, and his character here seems to have no purpose because the signing fails to establish any reasonable context to the actions that the characters take and what they are doing what they are doing.
The setting and costumes were also OK.