Les Misérables

It's just so soaringly monotonous... And although hard-core fans will love this whatever, and good luck to them, I'd rather set fire to my own hair than ever have to sit through it again. It would be over quicker, at least.

While it isn't a consummate movie, Les Misérables will stir a younger generation of fans with its glitz and charm and perhaps pioneer a new style of movie musicals.

Hugh Jackman delivers a muscular, earnest performance that holds together this diverse ensemble cast - which includes predictable but welcome comic relief from Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter - for the full 158min.

Ultimately the film's choppy, camera-goes-anywhere approach works well in translating a play that was never all that interested in the movement of bodies anyway-only their martyrdom.

Beyond some pacing problems and a few questionable casting choices, the movie works as a towering, somewhat lumbering monolith of entertainment disbursement.

It made me bad-tempered for two days, a personal record.

This is a decidedly gritty and grounded adaptation, with Hooper’s assured direction capturing the horror and humanity of revolutionary France.

This is a decidedly gritty and grounded adaptation, with Hooper’s assured direction capturing the horror and humanity of revolutionary France.

Hooper brings an appropriate sense of grandness to the musical [...] but overall, the creative choices call more attention to how it was made and distract from the powerful story.

Despite its faults, the story of "Les Misérables" is timeliness for a reason. There is something special about Claude-Michel Schönberg's music that makes you stand up to attention which makes the film enjoyable in spite of its imperfections.