I've liked the stage production of Les Misérables for a long time (although I haven't always appreciated the attempts to freshen it up in succeeding productions), so I was looking forward to the movie version. Here's a mini-review by someone who doesn't do this for a living, but has seen his fair share of Broadway musicals and movie adaptations.
Carolyn and I enjoyed it. I guess critics aren't jumping up and down, but it is, after all, a musical, and an iconic one at that, and critics seldom jump up and down, except in little fits of pique, about movie musicals. It was an enjoyable evening with mostly solid to outstanding performances.
Russell Crowe was better than I expected, pretty good and certainly better than some critical reviewers gave (or denied) him credit for. Hugh Jackman was fine, better as his character aged (his convict period didn't do much for me). I wanted to give Anne Hathaway (Fantine) a standing ovation, despite being in a crowded theater. Amanda Seyfried has a beautiful voice and Samantha Barks made a great Eponine. The boys, Marius (Eddie Redmayne) and Enjolrus (Aaron Tveit) were both strong. Helena Bonham Carter was very good as Madame Thénardier and paired well with a decent Sacha Baron Cohen. I never bought the kid who played Gavroche (Daniel Huttlestone), but maybe that's me.
I do wonder if they couldn't have improved the male roles, especially, with less well-known actors, but that's a quibble and wasn't as distracting as you might think, although I always knew I was watching Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe. They never transformed into their characters like Anne Hathaway and the other female actors did.
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