Short Review of "Les Miserables"

Because I've never read the book or seen the play of the same name, my comments about content may or may not be accurate.  However, I think I'll be commenting less on story subject than story presentation. I'm not going to lie: the music in this movie was really good.  Well, when they were actually singing songs, not singing dialogue to each other in a conversation.  This movie had all the honest hallmarks of being an epic and wonderful film.  Unfortunately, hallmarks is all this film had.  Epic in scope, sure.  Epic in being emotional, being moving, and being a powerful story?  No.  When a musical resorts to converting dialogue into song, the result is pretty shallow.  It's also close to being really silly and corny.  There were moments in the movie where, even though it wasn't a funny moment, I wanted to laugh because I couldn't believe they were being sing-songy with dialogue and keeping straight faces!

Don't get me wrong.  During the moments that it counted, each actor brought their best voice to the table.  Hugh Jackman had some really great moments.  Anne Hathaway's "I Dreamed a Dream" was gorgeous and I really felt her pain come across in her voice.  Who knew Amanda Seyfried could sing?   In spite of these bright spots, I found it difficult to follow the plot, I felt as if the movie skimmed on being really emotional, and I felt like the pace was almost too quick.  I mean, things shifted like crazy, and it was kind of hard to follow.  Also, character development was barely in existence.  I feel that a movie like Les Miserables, with its apparently deep dealings with the poor, the rumblings and machinery of the French Revolution, and the deep personal tragedies of the main characters (namely Valjean and Fantine).  why did they adapt the musical instead of the book?  I feel as if the movie had the potential to be an epic film.  But I also feel as if people haven't really connected to the film (if box office numbers are any real indication, Les Mis fell behind Hobbit, and barely surpassed Django Unchained).

In conclusion, it was an $8 I felt was wasted.  I would have personally benefited from peering deeper into characters' lives, learning why Javert was the way he was, and seeing the REAL undercurrent of the French Revolution and the people who fought in it.  I give it a personal rating of 2/5 stars.