For more than 25 years, Les Miserables has swept the world with its tear jerking songs and heartbreaking story.

This famous musical has been produced in 40 countries and been interpreted into 21 different languages. After its great success, Hollywood has now decided to take on the difficult task to bring this beloved play to the big screen. They have a lot of high expectations to fill from devoted Les Mis fans. Not only would they have to find actors with an intense vocal range, but also with emotional stability and focus to portray these devastated characters.

For the most part, Director Tom Hooper and the rest of his team did a pretty good job in filling in those musical expectations. Anne Hathaway (Fantine), Samantha Barks (Eponine), and Amanda Seyfried (Cosette) were cast for the female leads and all three lovely ladies were more than capable of getting the job done and went above and beyond to prove it.

Anne Hathaway had some pretty high shoes to fill with bringing Fantine’s tragic story to life. Broadway stars like Patti LuPone (Original London Cast, 1985), Randy Graff (Original Broadway Cast, 1987), and Ruthie Henshall (10^th Anniversary Concert, 1995) all showed the world the emotions of Fantine with their powerful vocals. Surprising us all with her breath-taking belts and actually cutting her hair, Anne Hathaway did certainly join the list of remarkable Fantine’s. 

Now the role of Eponine was a bit bigger part to fill because of she is more involved in the play, and Samantha Barks was the perfect choice. Samantha, being a Broadway star herself, is not shy to the world of Les Mis. She has played Eponine numerous times in a production of the play in London as well as in the 25^th Anniversary Concert. However, this was Samantha’s first movie, which is a bit of a different environment. With her adorable personality and experienced voice, this was a great start to Samantha’s music and hopefully movie career.  

 However, the male leads were a little higher to fill and much more complex to cast. The story mostly revolves around the constant conflicts of Jean Valjean and Javert. You would think that the casting crew would respect how powerful of parts these two are and choose their actors wisely. With Hugh Jackman as Valjean and Russell Crowe as Javert, it seems that these big Hollywood names would know what they’re doing.

In my opinion though, they did not do the characters any justice. For one thing, Russell Crowe cannot sing. Sure he can jump off a bridge and make it dramatic, but an action hero Les Mis isn’t about the acting, it’s about the singing, and I really believe that Russell Crowe wasn’t right for this part.

Hugh Jackman, on the other hand, was able to provide a decent version of Jean Valjean. In all honesty, he can’t sing, but I will give him credit for trying. He had the emotional attitude to enhance his performance. Although, no one can compare to Colm Wilkinson (Original London/Broadway Cast), who I would consider the “guru” of all Jean Valjeans’ (who also makes a cameo as the priest in the movie) . He is a fantastic performer and was basically born for this role. Hugh Jackman may have done an okay job, but Colm Wilkinson was the best of the best.

Overall, I was very impressed with the movie and the actors. If people enjoy this movie, they need to see a theater version of it to get the full, emotional experience of Les Mis.