Picky, Picky, Picky is how I describe much of the conversation surrounding the 2012 release of Les Misérables. The noise is that the movie is not the (Musical) play and that of the director’s choice to shoot and record the actors singing live on camera, (no lip syncing) making some viewers uncomfortable. Too bad.
There have been over ten theatrical or movie interpretations of Les Miserables and not one of them was the original story. Critics and some viewers wasted their time in not seeing this movie production as something new vs. comparing it to what they had already seen and knew. It’s OK not to like this film, but dislike it because it’s a movie you don’t like and not because it is not the play.
Les Miserables 2012 is an original piece of art, a spectacular movie, beautifully staged, acted and in most cases well sung. If your thought is that the Broadway musical is the only experience you want to remember or have then don’t see this film. It is different and special in its own way.
