I'm not going to go into the plot much at all in this review. Let me just give a basic outline: Jean Valjean is a convict, he gets let out on parole, becomes a new person when he tears up his papers, and befriends a poor factory worker, caring for her daughter after she dies.
The beginning of the movie wasted no time diving right into it, I almost felt like it was moving too fast to make an emotional connection with the main character. They make up for that, however, by the fact that the movie is really long. It's over three hours. The rating is PG-13, although quite honestly I would have given it an "R" rating. The fact is that certain suggestive themes are unavoidable parts of the story. To omit them would be to ruin the whole point of the plot. The factory worker, Fantine, gets fired from her job. After selling her hair and some of her teeth, she adopts... Another profession. There are two or three scenes in connection with that where you will find an excellent opportunity to go refill your popcorn. Yes, they were an integral part of the story, however they could have been done much more tactfully. That's Hollywood.
This movie is an emotional one, and it will wring the tears out of your eyes. One interesting fact is that all of the singing was actually recorded live, rather than dubbed over. The songs were great and I still have "Can you hear the people sing" stuck in my head. I especially enjoyed Daniel Huttlestone's performance as the young revolutionary Gavroche. He also played the same character in the Broadway production of Les Miserables.
Overall, I think this was a great film, stunted slightly by the several explicit scenes. This is not a family film, so parental discretion is
Just remember to bring tissues.
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