Les Miserables Movie Review

♪♫♪♫♪♫  I dreamed a dream in time gone by… When hope was high… And life worth living… I dreamed that love would never die… I dreamed that God would be forgiving ♪♫♪♫♪♫

Sorry, I still have a hangover from watching Les Miserables!  It was so heartwarming!  I didn’t even notice that the movie was 3 hours long!  I had to take some tissues off my bag to wipe away the tears from my face.

Les Misérables was based on the 1862 French novel by Victor Hugo.  It tells the story of Jean Valjean.  He was an ex-convict who broke parole in order to live anew.  In the movie, we get to see how Valjean lived his life.  We saw how he was tracked down by prison guard Javert.  We also saw how he fulfilled his promise to Fantine on taking care of Cosette.  We witnessed the rebellion of France.  Most of all, in Les Miserables, we’ll get to pick up a lot of lessons in life, love, friendship, loyalty, faith and selflessness.

One key takeaway for me is that showing kindness to people even if they don’t deserve it is worth it!  It can change lives!  I believe this should be applied to real life as well.  No matter who the person is, we should show kindness and sympathy.  That’s the true power of being a Christian.

The Cast

We went to a karaoke place as soon as we finished watching Les Miserables. You know, that made me appreciate the stars in the movie even more!  Singing live is already hard but acting at the same time?  All the stars in the film should be given credit for their awesome work!

• Hugh Jackman – A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!  I’ve renewed respect for this actor!  Imagine being able to balance singing and acting PLUS doing both EXCELLENTLY!  He was definitely a natural, it didn’t feel awkward at all watching him compared to the other stars in the film.  Apparently, Hugh Jackman is an actor, singer and dancer in several stage musicals such as Carousel, The Boy from Oz, and a Steady Rain.
• Anne Hathaway – I liked seeing Anne in the movie, and loved how she is an actress first and, a singer second.  You can really feel the pain in her eyes!  That was how effective she was.  I never thought she could sing well too!  (P.S.  message to Star columnist Ricky Lo – you’ve done such a bad job interviewing the actress.  Shame on you for not being humble enough to apologise and admit your mistake)
• Amanda Seyfried – Amanda did a decent job portraying Cosette.  While she isn’t a great singer, she did justice to the role.  Cosette doesn’t have much of a character and was mostly only perceived to be attractive.  Amanda executed well plus she also infused a bit of Fantine in Cosette.  Very impressive!
• Russell Crowe – A lot of people think that Russell Crowe was a misfit in the movie.  I thought otherwise.  The character he portrayed was heartless and stone cold and he actually portrayed it very very well.  I would forgive him for singing monotonously as it fits the police inspector character!

Trailer

If you haven’t watched Les Miserables, please make some time in your schedule to watch it!  Of course, bring some tissues as you’ll surely need them!  Me and my cousin actually stayed at the theater for a few minutes after the movie was finished because our face were all red because we cried too much!

Here’s a preview:

Les Miserables, the film adaptation, is definitely one of the best films that came out last 2012.  According to some friends, the film was better than the musical.  My cousin even mentioned that she only understood the story after watching the film.  I haven’t watched the musical and never even read the novel, but after watching this film, I now appreciate it!

My Rating for Les Miserables: 5 out of 5 stars