Essentially, I wasn't satisfied with any of the adaptations I saw of this film. There were things I enjoyed about each of the adaptations. But there wasn't one definite version I'd recommend above the others. My least favorite was the musical; the musical was tedious and required you to suspend your disbelief for hours. (Who would really sing a song WHILE being chased by the police? Who would sing when trying to hide?) My favorite characters in the musical would be Eponine (Samantha Barks) and Fantine (Anne Hathaway). In some ways the musical was truer to the book than the others.
I am glad I watched it once, however. The two black and while film adaptations I saw were quite pleasant. The story is horribly condensed in both, and everything is so rushed, but, they were pleasant experiences. They don't do justice to the book...at all. The 1998 film was very nice. I thought Geoffrey Rush was great as Inspector Javert, and Liam Neeson was believable as Jean Valjean. IF this adaptation had followed the book, been a bit longer perhaps, then it could have worked for me.
© 2013 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
2 comments:
I hadn't realised that there were so many movie adaptations. My first experience with Les Mis was (somewhat improbably) only this year with the musical version. I loved it, despite Russell Crowe being in it. I saw it twice at the movies. As you say Fantine and Eponine were standouts. I had planned to read the book on a trip to France (I just got back a few days ago) but did too much holidaying, and didn't have enough time for reading. I will seek out other movie versions in the meantime til I get a chance to read it.
Cool to have watched so many version and read the book. I enjoyed the musicals but I like musicals and I didn't have anything to compare it to except for a stage show of the musical!
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