There i said it, i sat through the whole 158 minutes of the new version of the Victor Hugo classic, and thought it sucked.
It wasn't the actors and actresses so much, Hugh Jackman and Sacha Baron Cohen were great, it was that there was just too much singing in it.
I never realised before the film started that every single word of the dialogue was sung and it just sounded wrong to my ears, why not just speak it so we understand clearly what is being 'said' and they don't have to mangle the words to make it fit the tune.
It's a real shame because i had been looking forward to it ever since it had been announced that they were making it but i came out of the cinema with a real sense of anti-climax.
Another draw-back was the songs, with the exception of 'I dream a dream' and the Landlord song, the songs are just not that exciting.
Maybe i was expecting too much, maybe it was ruined by my reading the book a few times and having the scenes in my minds eye or maybe it's just too long and Russell Crowe isn't a particular good singer but i was expecting the odd song, not one continuous one that lasted almost 3 hours.
I have never really understood why the Les Miserables novel was chosen to be turned into a musical in the first place, it isn't as if when reading the story you think that chapter would be ideal for someone to put to music.
So either i'm completely wrong and the one idea of the film that everyone saw as a highlight completely went over my head or i am alone in thinking if i was at home watching it on TV i would have turned over to Mrs Brown's Boys after the first 10 minutes.
I will stick to the 1998 version with Liam Neeson, Geoffrey Rush and Uma Thurman which despite not really staying true to the original book, has nobody singing in it.
3 comments:
As soon as I learned that it was ALL singing, I knew II had no interest in seeing it. Also, not really a Russell Crowe fan. Have never read the book, but adding it to my list. Currently reading Rabbit Boss by Thomas Sanchez, which I've been meaning to do for years!
If i had known before i wouldn't have bothered. Never heard of Rabbit Boss, is it any good? I keep looking at War & Peace but looks daunting so i keep it on my 'must read one day' list.
The material just doesn't play as well in a movie as it does on stage.
When it's on stage, we give the sillier aspects of the plot a free pass, cos at the end of the day it's all just an excuse for a good singalong.
e.g. The briefest of meetings between the two young lovebirds somehow moves Jean Valjean to risk absolutely everything to keep the young man (who he doesn't know from Adam) alive during the street battles with the French authorities. Erm... why?... And even the whole revenge thing that Jalvert has with Valjean doesn't play very convincingly in a movie, and this is the centre-piece of the whole story.
Most of the acting is pretty good, particularly an outstanding bit with Hugh Jackman when he's storming around that church trying to make up his mind about whether or not to return to Paris. Can't remember the name of the song, but that bit was quite stirring. I thought it was going to be really good at that point. But I was wrong. It became fairly boring by the end - and every time that other Australian turned up, the chubby one, my heart sank.
Post a Comment