Movie review-Les Miserables

[karaokegal]

Yes, I realize this is massively late. I saw the movie back in March and its Oscar season has already come and gone. It's just that I've been in a slump for a month and I've got some energy right now, so I figure I better get as much catch-up blogging done as I can while it lasts.

Comments

[daasgrrl]

Considering that they seem to have carried all the recitative directly over from the musical, I don't see how it could be that different, but I will take your word for it.

While I'm sure you don't care *g*, they actually changed some of the recitative (unnecessarily) into speaking (ie completely different dialogue), added more dialogue on top of that, added a (terrible) new song, cut a heap of lyrics here and there, and actually changed the order of songs around as well. They even altered lines that changed the emphasis of what was being said (like at the end it becomes All About Valjean's love for Cosette and how it changed him... no). Les Mis has a certain structure that holds it together, and they pretty much destroyed that.

Short example: The original Bohemian Rhapsody vs some kid singing a 90 second compressed version on American Idol, changing some of the words around to suit himself. It might still sound pretty good if you don't know the original, but it might hurt if you do. Or you could love both, obviously, which some do. But ow.

Hah - I love the idea of David Morse as Javert. Yes XD

[karaokegal]

I don't care enough that knowing it would really make me re-think the movie or the show, but I care that you care enough to defend what you love about it.

On the other hand, I know that if Sondheim ever lets them do a movie of Follies and they change a single thing I love about it, or case it in some way I object to, I will CERTAINLY be manning my own barricades in defense of my Follies. (You know how I am about my vision of certain canons.)