It's no secret that I have been dying to see this movie. I may have even once posted on Facebook that I was more excited and nervous about this movie than the birth of my own child. I'm an honest person and that was the truth. No lines crossed here.... During this 157 minute long movie (worth every second) I cried 6 times more than I did when Aniston was born... I didn't cry at all when she was born actually. I was kind of in shock. Anyway, back to the movie... INCREDIBLE!!!! Many people have looked at the length of the movie and thought it was rather long... Never in my life has 157 minutes gone by so quickly! There is almost no talking in the movie, which is awesome, it's just singing! The singing of beautiful and magical words.
The first thing I wanna touch on is Tom Hooper, the director. He did a FABULOUS (expect a lot of capital letters in this post) job! There were moments during the movie where I found myself not listening to the words of the songs (I already have them all memorized anyway) but just sitting in awe of the direction of the movie. The way Hooper filmed the movie was so raw (very lite makeup, if any used at all) and emotional. He knew what angles to hit and how to film the characters to make the scene even more raw and emotional! I'm sure that he had a lot of pressure on his shoulders when he took on this film, but he sure did deliver! My heart is seriously racing still as I think about the incredible job he did. Well done Tom Hooper, well done.
Let's chat about the music. First of all, the music to this musical is insane! I love to read, and this book was phenomenal But Schonberg and Kretzmer did such a good job of putting Victor Hugo's incredibly descriptive writing into song.
But what made this movie so amazing when it came to this movie was that the actors sang live while filming. The lyrics aren't recorded before the filming and this allows the actors to really put that raw emotion and feeling into the actual songs. I'll be honest... I listened to the soundtrack on iTunes the day before seeing the movie and I hated it! I actually got really upset about it. But when actually watching the movie, these songs were transformed into perfection! Anne Hathaway as Fantine was inspiring! She was perfection!
Hugh Jackman was also a home run although I was disappointed when it came to the song Bring Him Home. I guess all I could think about was Alfie Boe.... Sorry Hugh.
Russell Crowe was better than I thought he would be, but I felt as though he lacked excitement and passion. There was a note during Javert's suicide where when he hit it, I clenched my fist and yes... fist pumped for him right there in the middle of the theater. It was pure bliss!
Little Gavroche was wonderful as was Colm Wilkinson as the priest. Colm Wilkinson was the original Jean Valjean. The soundtrack that I listen to the most is actually him as Valjean. I am so happy and satisfied that they found a place for him in this film. He was only in the film for a short time, but he was so invested emotionally in his small role. SO GREAT!
Samantha Barks who played Eponine was just as amazing in this film as she was in the 25th Anniversary play! However, Spencer and I both had a bit of a shock when we saw her tiny waist... This waist could rival Scarlet O'Hara! Tiny, tiny, tiny!
The Thenardier's were casted PERFECTLY! The humor that those actors were able to bring to such a touching emotional story was BRILLIANT!
Everyone else was good. Honestly I didn't love Amanda Seyfried as Cosette... her vibrato was a little out of control, but she did fine. I was a little bummed that Red & Black was missing lyrics since this is one of my favorite songs, but I survived.
The movie was just AWESOME! I really hope that people become inspired to read Victor Hugo's novel because of their love for this movie. I cannot wait until I get to see this movie again!!! Until then I will live off the previews and clips of the movie I can find on youtube.
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