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Hooper's 'Les Misérables': Bloated anti-musical
Fans of the original production, no doubt, will eat the movie up, and good luck to them. I screamed a scream as time went by.
... Jackman, who should get a Nobel Prize for the way he carries pretty much the whole undertaking on his shoulders, so protean and virile is his singing and acting throughout.
At the heart of the "Les Misérables" movie was a good idea that just didn't work out this time. The idea was that the actors should sing their songs live on camera.
We're all familiar with the experience of seeing movies that cram ideas and themes down our throats. Les Misérables may represent the first movie to do so while also cramming us down the throats of its actors.
Committed fans of the musical are likely to have their affections reaffirmed. The less devout, however, may conclude that in this case more is less, and fidelity not always a virtue.
A guaranteed musical tear-jerker about a jerk who becomes a teary hero.
Riveting and incredibly entertaining...
Beyond some pacing problems and a few questionable casting choices, the movie works as a towering, somewhat lumbering monolith of entertainment disbursement.
Director Tom Hooper ('The King's Speech'), for the most part, balances Hugo's gritty, if romantic tale, with the larger-than-life demands of an adaptation of the 1985 stage musical.
A gorgeous film if not quite a classic, "Les Misérables" is a beautiful interpretation of the stage production based on the Victor Hugo novel. Not surprisingly, it's a sight to see, and it's directed by Tom Hooper, who helmed 'The King's Speech.'
A esperança é que, depois de Os Miseráveis, alguém tome o megafone de Tom Hooper e o proíba de entrar em outro set de filmagem.
So many close-ups, it seems better made for TV. Scene transitions are non-existent; the pace is relentless. All this over-the-top selling of emotion makes you look around before exiting-where's the gift shop, hawking more Hugo-not spinoffs and souvenirs?
Even if you're no fan of the show and think the lyrics doggerel and the music dreary, it's hard not to be bowled over by the barnstorming gusto shown by director Tom Hooper and his cast.
Hugh Jackman is sensational as zero to hero Valjean. Few can sing, dance and act like him. Here, he combines all three to glorious effect. And perhaps his most underrated quality is his greatest, Jackman is just so darn likeable.
Les Misérables has enough genuinely emotive power in its tank to guarantee a lot of people enormous pleasure.
Bombastic, overblown, overlong, needlessly convoluted and full of simplistic characters, some terrible performances and a constant, cochlea-cracking racket on the soundtrack ...
A work of unusual power and colour.
This is a Sing-A-Long Review. Press play on the backing track to "I dreamed a dream" before reading.
It made me bad-tempered for two days, a personal record.
Those who get on with tunes will barely notice the hours flying past. Of course, if you hate the show, you'll hate the film.
Starting at full-emotion and never wavering for a moment, this huge movie adaptation of the long-running stage musical wears us out with its relentlessly epic approach.
It's Jackman, with his background in musical theatre, who stands out - somehow managing to anchor the whole thing and stop it becoming the bloated monster it threatens to be.
A bold filming of a theatrical classic, anyone with a fondness for the original production and a wee greet will lap this up.
Like being trapped in Disney jail with the kids from Fame. For five consecutive life sentences.
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Top Critic
