Honey, you can't just call something dog poo and not explain.
Look who decided to show up and review a movie with me!
I have very strong feelings about the musical Les Miserables. I grew up listening to it and singing all the songs full volume as only a diva child can. As I grew, I realized most of the libretto really isn't very good. For example, take this gem, which takes places during a climatic fight between Valjean and Javert:
Javert: You know nothing of Javert
I was born inside a jail.
I was born with scum like you.
I am from the gutter too.
This film, more than usual films, rose and fell on the performances of individual actors.
If anyone would ask me, "Wyn, should I go see Les Mis?" I would respond, "Two words: Anne Hathaway." I will admit I have cried twice in my life time watching Les Mis, and once was when Lea Salonga and Michael Ball sang "A Little Fall of Rain" in the Les Miserables in Concert: The Tenth Anniversary , and the other was in this movie when Anne Hathaway sang "I Dreamed a Dream".
I've heard "I Dreamed a Dream" thousands of times, by professional level singers and middle schoolers, and I've never seen a performer who understood it as perfectly as Anne Hathaway. Her raw rendition had me crying in my seat (Me too!), spellbound by the truth of her emotion. The recording of her singing doesn't do the performance justice; in the film, she fills the screen, shorn and alone and sobbing. Hugh Jackman also fared well as Jean ValJean. His face fit the character and his performance was generally heartfelt, though his bombastic rendition of "Bring him Home" showed the role to be a bit out of his range; a true tenor wouldn't have to push so hard to reach those high notes. Russell Crowe gives the most disappointing performance as Javert. Singing breaks his acting skills. He stiffly struts, blurring his words together, always at the same awkward dynamic level. Amanda Seyfried, as Cosette, sings with a shrill bleat, but looks competently pretty and earnest on screen. Samantha Barks also competently plays Eponine, but forgets to be sassy and instead whines most of her lines, making her utterly forgettable. Eddie Redmayne is charming as Marius, but I found Helena Bonham-Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen disappointing as the Thénardiers. Cohen confusingly switched accents, from cockney to french and back without warning, often during the same scene. The minor characters and ensemble universally shone. Gavroche and Enjolras, played by Aaron Tveit and Daniel Huttlestone respectively, marked high points, as did Colm Wilkinson, the most famous and accomplished of stage Jean Valjeans, as the Bishop.
So there you go for the performance end of things. There is much more to criticize here, but the make-up, costumes, and set design was terrific, and I was very impressed with the gross looking teeth. The cinematography was disappointing sometimes, which I would assume is due to the live recording of the singers. I could tell that some shots were sacrificed to satisfy the best singing take. A good example of this is a scene near the end when Valjean is talking with Marius, and Marius's face was completely out of focus in two separate shots. I guess that's one of the disadvantages to the "live singing" style: the director was limited to using takes with the best singing, regardless of camera work. That being said, I would love to see another musical done in this style. I felt very connected to the situations instead of being torn out of the scene with obvious "pretty" recordings.
I think we've given this film enough criticism. I would recommend seeing this film just for Anne Hathaway, and if this movie were just the 20 minutes of her stage time, I would give it four stars, but I was severely bothered by so much of this movie that I could not give it more than three stars. What do you think honey?
I think giving this film three stars is generous. I spent most of the movie (SPOILER) missing Anne Hathaway. I'll give it two and a half stars.
Andrea's Review:
Wyn's Review:
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