Les Misérables

Rating 5 out of 10

As anyone that knows me might have guessed I'm not a big musical person.  I like some musicals.  One's like Grease or even Momma Mia where they talk, talk, talk and then someone bursts into song and dance.  Les Miserables is not that type of musical.  There are maybe 5-6 words in the whole movie.  All the rest of the dialog is singing.  If that does not sound so bad to you I highly recommend this movie for you.  

The acting for the most part is first rate.  I feel sure Hugh Jackman having been overlooked for  oscar nominations playing Wolverine in the X-Men films will get his shot this year.  He does a good job and the Academy seems to like performances like that.  Anne Hathaway also does a good job even though it's heartbreaking to watch them shave off her pretty hair. The one miscast for my taste was Russell Crowe.  He plays the local inspector and besides looking on the fat side is not a very good singer.  

The movie is set in 1800s France where Jean Valjean (Jackman) in sentenced to five years prison for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sisters family.  Five turns into fifteen years when he keeps trying escape.  When he is finally released he breaks parole and finds a new identity. In a few years he becomes a successful business man and Mayor of the town.  Things start to unravel when his old prison guard is named lead Inspector (Crowe) of the town he now lives in.  

As I said if you like musicals you will find this movie incredible.  It just wasn't my thing.