8/10

One amazingly beautiful picture with the best cinematography of the year. The sets really created a dark world in which every one of these characters sang of their breakthroughs. I thoroughly enjoyed the performances of Jackman and Hathaway, and had it not been for Daniel Day Lewis (Lincoln), i would automatically assume that Jackman would take the Oscar. I also fell head over heels for the girl who played Eponine (Samantha Barks). When she sang ‘On my own’, it actually brought a tear to my eyes. I was also very surprised at how good Amanda Seyfried was as Cozette. I really thought that was going to be one of the weaker parts of the movie, but i was wrong. Now for the weaknesses, Russell Crowe did great as Javert, but that man cannot sing to save his life. It’s just my opinion, but his voice carries no rhythm what so ever and i find it hard that this man can inspire any kind of army. Another weakness was the screen time of 2 Hours and 37 Minutes. This movie is good, but it’s not great enough to carry a time like that without lagging in some spots. Luckily, Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter kept showing up to give it the little spike it needed. There were also a couple of camera errors and inconsistencies i noticed, but i wont get into those as i feel they aren’t important with a review. Overall, i would recommend this movie to musical fans, but it might lag to anyone who doesn’t have patience to watch a 2 and 1/2 hour movie.