Les Miserables, Movie Review

"Do you hear the people sing?
Singing a song of angry men?
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!"

 Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars (would be more if it wasn't for the camera work.)

Les Miserables, aka The Miserable, based on the 1980 Paris/1985 West End musical, which was based on the 1865 Victor Hugo novel, takes place in France between 1815-1832, after the French Revolution.  A new King sits on the throne.

With that said, I'm a huge fan of the musical, having first seen it in 1996 with my 8th grade class, and it was an instant love affair, being the first professional play I've ever seen.  It was glorious, and this review will be taken from that perspective: a fan of the musical finally seeing it on the silver screen.

Performances

No one can argue how brilliant Anne Hathaway is in the role of Fantine; we've been hearing about it for months.  The crime would have been if she didn't meet expectations after all that hype.  She did meet them, and her performance was full of raw emotion.  Hugh Jackman was also brilliant, and I don't think Russell Crowe deserves the bad rap he's been getting.  Sure, his falsetto could use some work along with a couple rhythmic passages, but during the deeper melodic lines his tone was really quite nice.

The ensemble was fantastic, and I don't think they're getting the credit they deserve.  We've been hearing about Anne, but what about Eddie Redmayne as Marius?  His "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" was beautiful, and I love his duet with Eponine (Samantha Barks) "A Little Fall of Rain." (I was nervous the song didn't make the movie when I didn't see it as a track listing on the album.)  One of the downfalls of the 1998 Les Mis. movie was the absence of my favorite character Eponine, and to not have her here would have been a travisty.  Samantha didn't disappoint, and I loved her "On My Own." (The best song, bar none.  I'm biased towards it.)  The two children, Daniel Huttlestone as Gavroche and Isabelle Allen as the young Cossette, both turned in very solid performances.

Surprisingly I was most impressed with Aaron Tvelt as Enjolras, who is one of Marius' friends.  His vocals were pure and strong.  He took a part that I usually don't pay attention to and made me notice and care for the character, albeit small.  All the singers during "Red and Black" were all quite good.

Conversion from Stage to Screen

Many aspects worked well on the big screen.  Where, on the stage, an actors performance is played big so that the whole audience can feel the emotion, the camera allows for subtle nuances to come through.  The singers voice can pull back a little to convey a line instead of project; this allowed for many wonderful moments on the screen.

What I had a hard time with was the camera work.  I was reading in Vogue how director Tom Hopper didn't know how he was going to transition a stage musical to the screen til Anne Hathaway's audition, thus the "close-up" was realized.  It works for her solo, as well as a couple of Jackman's pieces, but there were moments when I was craving sweeping wide-shots.  Some good cinematography!  Since all the singing was done live, with close-up hand-held cameras, those broader shots would have been more difficult.  And since Hopper would take the most solid performance over the most solid filmed scene, some really sloppy camera work made the final cut.  I swear I noticed the camera get bumped a couple times, especially by Jackman towards the beginning of the film.  And I believe the camera men stumbled a couple times as well.  

Overall I was quite pleased with Les Miserables.  Was it perfect?  No, but the message of the play came through.  That of redemption.  And it was nice seeing some of my most favorite musical theater pieces performed in such a grand way.

MPAA: Rated PG-13 For suggestive and sexual material, violence and thematic elements.  Not for the young.  There are moments brought to the screen that aren't so well emphasized in the play, depicting how horrible it was to live back then, etc.  How horrible it is to live in the slums.  We take things for granted.        

Rise of the Guardians Movie Review

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

I first found out about Dreamworks Rise of the Guardians through my brother Steven.  Several months ago he was quite excited when he saw the trailer online, so he had me watch it, but I wasn't feeling the great interest he was.  It seemed to be just another Holiday Christmas movie.  "What is it exactly?"  I asked him, and he proceeded to tell me that the Sandman, Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, and Santa Clause are all apart of a group that protect kids, and they're out to fight against the boogeyman.  Somewhere Jack Frost fits in.  "So it's like the Avangers, only with childhood figures?" I asked, and he agreed that it was.

In a society that loves Comic Books and Mythologies, we have all these great myths and stories tied to our favorite characters.  We don't believe in them, but they're still real to us because of what we do know.  What's sad is that I know more about Superman, Batman, Iron man, some other superhero with a "man" at the end of their name, and Thor then I do about Santa Clause and the Tooth Fiary.  And yet, as a kid, I actually believed in Santa Clause!  I believe I somehow managed to make it to the 1st grade believing in him (that's probably because I'm the oldest of four, my youngest brother caught on much sooner then I.)  Not much is known about those we believed in as children, and Jack Frost I knew least of all.

That's Jack Frost's problem.  He exist.  He knows he exists, and it's the Man in the Moon who told him his name, but Jack Frost has no idea why he is who he is.  He just knows that he has the power to frost things and enjoys causing mischief in the process.  But no one believes in him, so he's invisible, and there's something very lonely in that.  The Guardians can be seen, because they are believed in, and there is power in that.

This is where the Boogeyman comes in.  He's no longer believed in and is invisible, craving the power he once had during the Middle ages when everything was dark and depressing.  And thus we have our conflict.

The character animation and interpritations in this film is brilliant.  Santa Clause, who is called "North" and is voiced by Alec Baldwin, is a burly man touting a giant tattoo that reads "Naughty," and yet he's in touch with his playful inner child.  The Tooth Fairy, who goes by "Tooth" and is voiced by Isla Fisher, has a league of tiny fairies called "baby teeth," and they all have hummingbird like traits.  The Easter Bunny, called E.Aster Bunnymund and is voiced by Hugh Jackman, has an Australian accent and is big like a kangaroo.  Then there's the Sandman, called Sandy, who doesn't have a voice actor because he communicates through pictures by using gold dust.  I honestly found that brilliant.  The boogeyman, called "Pitch" Black and is voiced by Jude Law, is a tall, intimidating fellow.  And then Jack Frost, voiced by Chris Pine, is a kid with a joyful nature, but is internally conflicted.

I really enjoyed this movie, and like my brothers I found myself relating to the main character, who is Jack Frost.  How often do we go through life wondering what our purpose is?  Who we are?  And somewhere in there we feel invisible, even when we scream.

And the Man in the Moon is a delightful character.  He is up in the sky watching, communicating through inspiration, and setting things in motion, yet he doesn't get involved beyond that, letting those in the story find their own ways by making choices, even when the choices could be wrong.

This is a fun family film that I highly recommend.

MPAA: PG for thematic elements and mildly scary action.