As anyone who has read my status updates lately can tell, I have been super excited about the movie adaptation of the musical, Les Miserables (which is based on the book by Victor Hugo). After hearing me talk about it so much, my parents decided that they wanted to see it, too, so we decided to see it on Christmas Day while I was in Amarillo. I bought the tickets ahead of time online so that we could go to the showing that we wanted to see.
Les Miserables is the first Broadway show that I saw on Broadway. It's actually the only show that I've seen on Broadway in NYC (though I've seen several traveling shows like Lion King & Wicked). I still remember seeing Les Mis my senior year of high school (almost 15 years ago...wow, I'm getting old!) on choir tour with Bel Canto. I remember how powerful the show was...I remember crying the entire second act. I am not a mega fan by any means (I don't know everything there is to know about the show), but it is one of my favorite musicals.
All that to say...I was really looking forward to this show! And overall, it did not disappoint! For the most part, I loved it! I didn't hate anything in the movie. There were just a few things I thought weren't as good as others.
***Spoilers ahead: Just a warning ***
What was just okay about:
THE CAST:
Russell Crowe as Javert
As Javert, Russell Crowe did an excellent job with his PRESENCE on the screen. And he really does have a pretty voice. His voice just isn't strong or deep enough to be Javert's voice. Stars was extremely disappointing. The last note is supposed to make you feel his passion in catching Valjean. It was just kind of "eh." I found myself thinking, "I wish the guy who did this in Amarillo Little Theatre's show was singing this instead." (He was incredible!) Also, Javert's Suicide was just so-so. What I did love about Russell Crowe was that he made Javert more human. You could really see more of the struggle that this character is going through. My favorite Javert moment was when he laid his medal on the body of Gavroche. But vocally, I just didn't love him as Javert.
Amanda Seyfried as Cosette
The adult Cosette has never been one of my favorite characters anyway, so this didn't bother me too much. Amanda Seyfried did fine, except her voice sometimes sounded like Snow White in the Disney movie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0niwn2pOEno
DIRECTION:
Tom Hooper overall does a good job. But he chose to have a lot of the movie shot REALLY, REALLY, REALLY close up. It made for some awkward feeling moments that didn't need to be that awkward. The whole time during Hugh Jackman (Jean Valjean) singing Valjean's Soliloquy, a very important song, I was distracted by how close the camera was to Jackman's face. It wasn't that way the whole time, and it got better later on in the film.
What was good about:
THE CAST:
Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean
Hugh Jackman did a great job as the lead, Jean Valjean. I wasn't blown away or anything, but he was right for the part. Bring Him Home was not as good as I was hoping, but he was good overall. (He's no Colm Wilkinson, but who is? I also enjoy Alfie Boe on the 25th anniversary concert). The chemistry between Jackman and Russell Crowe was just what it should be. The Confrontation was really good. They did it as a sword fight, so it was more realistic than Valjean and Javert just singing across Fantine's deathbed.
Sasha Baren Cohen & Helena Bonham Carter as the Thenardiers
Cohen and Carter did a good job as the Thenardiers. This was not too much of a surprise, though. My mom laughed several times during their parts. What I did like about them was how they had them pickpocketing the various guests during Master of the House. They provided the much needed comic relief in what is overall a very serious and often very sad (duh, the title!) movie.
THE DIRECTION:
I don't know if this falls under direction or production or what.
The order of the story:
The order of the story was switched around a bit. And it actually did make sense, for the most part, the way they did it. Instead of having Fantine sing I Dreamed a Dream right after she is fired from the factory, she sings it right after Lovely Ladies when she has given up and become a prostitute. It was just more powerful to have it sung at that moment. There were some other things as well, but I won't go into them here. They worked the story out just fine, and the changes helped move the story along.
The "live recording" style of shooting:
Most movie musicals have the parts that are sung recorded in a studio and then the actors lip-sync their parts as they shoot the rest of the movie. Because there is very little spoken dialogue, Tom Hooper chose to have the actors wear ear pieces and have a keyboard playing the accompaniment following the choices the actors were making as they sang. The orchestration was added later. This allowed for a more natural and realistic feel to the movie. It did mean that some of the songs weren't as "pretty" as they are in the Broadway show. I didn't always love the outcome, but they were pretty powerful this way.
What I loved about:
THE CAST:
Isabelle Allen as young Cosette
and
Daniel Huttlestone as Gavroche
These two child actors did a brilliant job in their parts. Isabelle Allen was precious in the few moments on screen as young Cosette. Her Castle on a Cloud was very good! And she just captured your heart just as she did Valjean's. Huttlestone was also excellent as the precocious Gavroche. He really shone in Look Down and his death was the only moment that I had to cover my eyes. (And then soon began to cry again). And when the students are ready to give up, him starting to sing Do You Hear the People Sing? brought tears to my eyes.
Anne Hathaway as Fantine
Anne Hathway deserves all the press she is getting. She was heartbreaking as Fantine. That being said, she surprisingly wasn't my favorite performance. Maybe it was because it was so early in the film. She did a wonderful job with I Dreamed a Dream. I had always wondered about this song because it is one of the saddest of the songs, but it never seemed to be quite as desperate as it sounds in the Broadway show. In the movie, it is one of the lowest points that a character reaches. You just feel the hopelessness of her situation. But that being said...
Samantha Barks as Eponine
Okay...so I FULLY admit to coming into this with a BIT of a bias! Eponine is my favorite character by far, and I was super excited that Samantha Barks would be playing her in the film. I was so relieved that they didn't cast Taylor Swift or any of the other actors rumored to be in the running. And she did not disappoint! Barks provided some much needed vocal chops to the cast. I know she is not getting some of the praise that Hathaway and other cast members are getting, but I thought she was one of the best vocally. She was very in the moment with her parts, and was just as heartbreaking in On My Own (My favorite song) without sacrificing the beauty of her voice. I ENJOYED her songs more than all the others, which, in a musical is a big part of what I'm looking for.
And the surprise of the cast:
Eddie Redmayne as Marius
I knew little to nothing about Redmayne going into this movie. I heard a few clips of him singing and thought he would be fine. He was more than fine, he was wonderful! Like Barks, he was very in the moment with his character, but didn't sacrifice the quality of his sound for the moment. And he has an incredible voice!!! I loved every moment he was on screen. He and Barks had more chemistry together than he and Seyfried did. It made him choosing Cosette over Eponine a bit of a puzzle...A Little Fall of Rain was one of my favorite moments in the film.
THE LOOK:
Aside from the weird close-ups on the characters, I loved the overall look of the film. The opening scene was amazing and every transition left me a bit breathless with how they shot it.
And finally...
What blew me away...
THE ENDING:
This sounds a bit funny to say, and I don't mean it in the negative way at all, but the ending completely blew me away! From the moment Fantine begins to sing Come to Me through the reprise of Do You Hear the People Sing? I was overwhelmed! Instead of having Eponine join Fantine, they had Colm Wilkinson come back as the bishop. As much as I LOVE Eponine, it never made sense to me why she was one of the ones that Valjean saw as he was dying, considering he doesn't have much contact with her. Having the Bishop, who plays a huge role in Valjean's turning point at the beginning of the story, be singing with Fantine made complete sense. Then they moved outside and you see a huge barricade with all those lost in the battle, including Fantine, Valjean, Gavroche, Eponine and Enjoras, along with lots and lots of people singing Do You Hear the People Sing? It was an uplifting and beautiful ending to what was overall a very good film!
I still love the musical on stage more...I'm just too much of a musician not to want the people to really SING, but I loved this movie and will probably be seeing it again very soon!
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