Film

Les Misérables: Did the film do the musical justice?

Russell Crowe cannot sing, which is a shame. You can see why the casting directors chose him as he looks like Javert in the musicals. He had a great speak-singing voice that musical actors and actresses need, but when he had to actually sing, he sounded a little out of stamina. But his acting skills pull him through.

We loved the scenes with Sacha Baron Cohen & Helen Bonham Carter, as they bring humour as the innkeepers who adopted young Cosette. Both very great singers and their facials were on top form. I cannot think of two people to play this role as much as they did.

Amanda Seyfried was a lovely Cosette, but it is a shame that she gets outdone by newcomer Isabelle Allen who plays Young Cosette. The little girl who got talent spotted by MacIntosh himself whilst she was playing a part of a boy in her school play. She must have counted her lucky stars by getting this part and rubbing shoulders with these Hollywood A-listers. Her voice is innocent, her acting superb, and you want to look after her yourself. Eddie Redmayne who plays Cosette’s love interest has a unique voice. His acting was above average, but the look in his eyes convince you that he is deeply in love with Cosette, and you WANT them to live a happy ever after.

As a West End geek, I actually squealed when West End legend Colm Wilkinson made a simple, short and sweet appearance as the Bishop, and Samantha Barks, who plays Epione in the West End version of Les Mis made her acting debut in that role. A lovely sentiment from Macintosh who brought these two to the big screen to share their talents to all.

Now last but not means least, Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman. I love Anne. She does no wrong in my eyes. The fact she suffered for her art by cutting her own hair short and losing so much weight before this role shows commitment. Her acting was incredible as she played the lost soul Fantine, and her singing voice was gorgeous. Only twenty minutes in as I cried due to her singing “I dreamed a dream”. The emotion that bled out of her effected me and probably every other woman in that cinema. But my favourite has to go to Hugh Jackman. Ladies; he looks hot. Maybe not as a slave but after the first fifteen minutes, he shows off his muscles and you can’t help but look on in awe. But what surprised me was how well he sang and he played Jean Valjean incredibly. I just cannot describe to you how much I feel he should win that all important Oscar.

As I said, as someone who likes musicals, I will have a bit of a biased view, even if I don’t feel it didn’t do the musical justice, so I took my boyfriend along to try and give you a balance view.You see my boyfriend really DOES NOT care for musicals. He doesn’t understand why everyone has to sing everything. trust me, I have pointed out that is the reason why it is called a musical but he is still adament. But he came out of the cinema smiling, and he was surprised how much he liked it.

As for I, I haven’t came out of the cinema shaking and buzzing from a film in such a long time. I cried lots towards the end, I was amazed by the big production and just fell in love with the film. So to answer my question, does the film do the musical justice? Yes, yes it does; a million times and more.

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