Misérables

Watched Les Misérables (the movie) with Vivian during the holiday.

I must say I am fairly familiar with the story and all the songs. When the musical was on the stage in Hong Kong nearly twenty years ago, I watched it with my younger sister Jenny. (That’s actually the first musical that I ever watched live.) The sound track of its 10 Year Anniversary Show is one of the favorite CDs that I listen to in my office during work. Nonetheless, Vivian urged me to watch it in the cinema once again because my wife is a big fan of the original musical.

And Tom Hooper did not let us down. The movie preserves all successful components of the musical – and the setting is much more suitable for telling the original story of Victor Hugo. Although many of the starring are not professional singers, most of them (notably Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway) perform rather well.

The major exception is (I suppose most of the audience agree) Russell Crowe – especially if you have ever heard Philip Quast as Javert.

Well, in my biased opinion, the more of a disappointment comes from Sacha Baron Cohen. Since Thénardier is nothing but a supporting character in the drama, I see no reason why Tom Hooper should insist on popularity of the cast and give up others who could sing well.