Thursday 13 March 2014

Les Miserables 2012 Movie Review ~ Part 1


YAY!

Okay, so I plan to do this review in two, possibly three parts. I will cover what I like/dislike about the movie as I go through the story.

My introduction to Les Mis was basically like this:
When I was little, it was "Lez Mis-rabils" that came up on ads on tv. A year or so ago, I knew as "a story about a man named Jean Valjean who stole a loaf of bread and ran away and was chased by a policeman called Javert". Yeah, it's a little bit more complicated than that :). When the movie came out, I heard a lot more about it on blogs and things, and when we bought the movie I started reading parts of the book to get a better idea of the story.

Anyway, so the movie review....

But I'll try to review in a reasonable order :)


Where to start? Well,

"Let's start at the very beginning - a very good place to start."

(I know, it's The Sound of Music, not Les Mis, but it's still a musical.)


Anyway....
Firstly, the opening scene:


"Look Down" was really good - you can just totally read the prisoners' emotions by their expressions and the singing was great.




Javert sounded like he was straining his voice too much at first, but it sounds good.

The bishop was funny but serious at the same time. He sings well. (P.S. I will hardly ever first introduce a character here without saying they have a good voice.)

"At the End of the Day" was pretty cool and really catchy.



Fantine was really good! Anne Hathaway (what I saw of her) was incredible and had a wonderful voice.


Seeing Valjean appear again as Monsieur le Maire was like "oh, I like him now!" (24,601 seemed kind of wild)






The way Javert spoke to him with such respect was really funny.

When he was lifting the cart off Fauchlevent and Javert was looking at him like "I know this guy!" was very amusing :)

*{Inserts more extended review parts now being better acquainted with the movie after having watched it four times}*

"Who Am I" was really good. I like how he did consider the fate of his workers as well as himself -
although in the end, I think it was the right thing to do to own up.

 

Fantine's death was very sad - her singing was so real

"The Confrontation" was quite cool!


Uh, but I did like it! We enjoy singing it in parts!




And, finally, we get to Cosette!



Isabelle Allen had a pretty voice and sang "Castle On a Cloud" really well.

Naturally we skipped MOTH, but "Waltz of Treachery" or "The Bargain"
was quite funny.




Ugh, THEM. The Thenardiers as very like to the book, except their characters were reversed.
M. Thenardier's "Colette" and "Courgette" were really funny :)

When Jean Valjean takes Cosette away, she is so sweet and caring and he is amazed.


Ooh, and the chase with Javert was really cool. I thought, "Wow, I didn't know Cosette could run that fast, even though he is pratically dragging her." But then he picks her up and carries her, which really shows his strength as he's running and climbing and stuff.

I love the way Javert's horse's hooves make sparks on the concrete pavement!




Pity, I couldn't find a picture of it.

Then, finally we come to the convent.



I love the way she is so trusting, because he is so kind to her.

The re-appearance of Fauchelevent was neat, too.


Ooh, and "Stars". Wow.
It's really neat because you can see how Javert really believes he is doing the right thing, so you don't dislike him so much.



This picture is so funny! Poor Javert.
  



That was kind of short, but I want to wrap it up there and post the rest together.


So, next post:

Marius!
Eponine
Cosette & Valjean
The Re-appearance of the Thenardiers
When Everything Gets Really Interesting
Everything Else That Happens
*SOB, SOB, BAWL*
What, it's over?????
At Least It's a Nice Ending






                               


                    



                               


                             



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