“Les Miserables” was first written in 1862 and was regarded as one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. The musical version opened in London in 1985 and has been running continuously there since with over ten thousand performances. The show received thirteen Tony nominations including Best Musical.

So naturally the 2012 movie adaptation of the musical has a lot to live up to. But with a $61 million budget, a cast of many famous actors and actresses, and director Tom Hooper, who gained fame with his Academy Award winning Best Picture “The King’s  Speech”, they were well equipped to produce a fantastic musical film.  So did they?  Let’s take a look.

Overall Les Miserables was cast very well. Hugh Jackman does a fantastic job of both acting and singing the difficult role of Jean Valjean. Jackman went on an extensive weight loss and exercise diet and deprived himself of water for 36 hours before playing Valjean in the slave scenes.  The result is an unrecognizable Jackman for the first part of the film. Anne Hathaway also had a knockout performance as Fantine  that won her Best Supporting  Actress at the Golden Globes. Hathaway does an exquisite job of balancing amazing acting and beautiful singing. Eddie Redmayne does a great job of playing Marius as well. Really the only weak link in the cast, sadly, is Russell Crowe. Crowe is spectacular at looking awesome in ancient armor and yelling “Charge!” But when he opens his mouth to sing he is on pitch, but has no feeling or emotion which looks and sounds even worse when put up against these other spectacular performances. Crowe’s performance just brings the whole movie down.

Along with the beautiful singing, “Les Miserables” looks spectacular as well. An entire city block of 19th century Paris  built in a giant warehouse is just one of the its stunning sets. The opening scene of hundreds of men dragging a ship into drydock and singing at the same time is simply breathtaking. “Les Miserables” doesn’t just look good from far away every dirty peasant on the street looks like they could have their own story.

But perhaps “Les Miserables'”greatest accomplishment is the fact that the actors and actresses sang every single song live. This is the first time a modern musical movie has attempted this. The result is a much more real experience. Eddie Redmayne described the experience as “freeing”, saying that singing the cuts live gave each actor much more room for improvisation and intense acting.

If you’re a die hard les miserables fan who has most likely seen the show once or multiple times on broadway, you will be wondering if this is another movie that changes everything or butchers the story. It is not with a few exceptions (a little less focus on Fantine and one original song) the movie stays very true to both the book and the musical. Essentially every song is included and only one original song “Suddenly” was composed for the movie. While “Suddenly” bothers some avid fans the song has been nominated for best original song in the oscars and fits very well in with everything else.

So in the end Les Miserables is an amazing movie and a great accomplishment. With great acting, singing costuming and sets the movie is everything we hoped it to be. Even though there were a few mistakes, such as the casting of Russell crowe, it more than made up for it. Les Miserables is out of theaters in Iowa city, but it comes out on DVD, Blu ray, and instant viewing services on March 19th, this is definitely not a movie to miss.

Critics’ Score(according to Rottentomatoes.com): 70%
My Score: 8.5/10