Last night, the BF and I went to go see Les Miserables! A theater near us had it on open caption so we were actually able to go. The tickets were free as it was the same chain that we had our last movie-going mishap (we weren’t able to see Wreck It Ralph because the caption glasses weren’t working) so that was kind of nice too.

Now, I am not a musical fan. I may have years and years of concert and marching band under my belt, but I could never get into the whole musical theater thing. The BF isn’t either (it’s hard to be when you’re deaf) so we just don’t have any interest in Broadway even though we’re relatively close. I did see Phantom of the Opera and The Producers when they had musical movie adaptations, so I figured I’d give Les Mis a go. 

I also didn’t really know the story. The BF didn’t know it at all. Do you realize how odd it is going to a movie now when you don’t know how everything is going to end? Since everything is based off books and are remakes, it just doesn’t happen enough. I think it added to my enjoyment of it, as a non pre-existing fan.

In my not-a-musical-or-movie-buff opinion, this was a good movie. We both really enjoyed it a lot. It didn’t seem to drag and it moved right along through a LOT of story. From what I’ve read, most of the changes from the stage play to the film made the film more in line with the original novel.

The good:

• Moved right along, didn’t feel like things were hurried or rushed through.
• Songs were shortened (or at least I’m almost positive). This helped things not to drag, but a musical fan might be upset that all of, say, On My Own isn’t in there.
• I was really happily surprised with the big actors’ performances. Russel Crowe especially.

The not so good:

• I really dislike Sacha Baron Cohen. 
• Reading some of the celebrity gossip about which actors were really bad at singing was a little distracting, because I was looking for it.
• The open captions got a little wonky when there were two lines being sung at once.
• I didn’t really care for the closeups while singing that much originally, but they grew on me.

Overall, I’d give this movie a solid 4/5. A big fan of Les Mis might rank it higher or lower according to their vision of how the movie should be. From an outsider perspective though, it’s really enjoyable and you should go see it with an open mind! And don’t read too much gossip about it beforehand.

Did you see Les Miserables? What did you think?