Review of Les Misérables (1998) by Carole S — 15 Oct 2012

I liked this movie, it was very well done. I loved the movie version of Valjean better than the book version. The book version was just an evil man to begin with, he had no compassion whatsoever and I doubt that he would've changed that much. It wasn't a believable change; however in the movie you can see a little bit more kindness in him, so the sudden change was very believable.

The acting was decent, sometimes a little melodramatic though (especially Uma Thurman's death scene). I'm very happy that they had casted Liam Neeson as Valjean; I don't think the movie would've been as good without him. He made the movie.

I hated some of the dialogue and the melodramatic moments. I also hated how they skipped over a lot of Valjean's redemption journey. For ten minutes, Valjean's an evil convict and then suddenly it skips a whole bunch of time and now he's a great, rich, and kind mayor. How did he get there? If you haven't read the book you wouldn't know. I think they should've focused more on the transition stages of his redemption. I also wasn't a fan of how they shot some of the scenes.

All-in-all it was very entertaining to watch after you read the book. For those who haven't read the book, should read it before they watch this film. I liked the movie and I will probably watch it a few more times in future. However, I hate when movies think that every viewer has read the book. I shall grant this movie, 2 stars.