Les Miserables (2012)Movie Reviews

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Avg. Critic Score: 63 out of 100 Generally favorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
14 OK for kids 14+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 90
    Wall Street Journal | Joe Morgenstern

    This "Les Mis" does make you feel, intensely and sometimes thrillingly, by honoring the emotional core of its source material. Read full review

  • 88
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    Besides being a feast for the eyes and ears, Les Misérables overflows with humor, heartbreak, rousing action and ravishing romance. Damn the imperfections, it's perfectly marvelous. Read full review

  • 88
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    Les Misérables is sweeping, as would be expected given the scope of the hugely popular stage musical from which it is adapted. But it's also wonderfully intimate, thanks to Tom Hooper's deft direction. Read full review

  • 80
    New York Daily News | Elizabeth Weitzman

    Fortunately, this sprawling epic is well-anchored. There cannot be a better big-screen showman than Jackman. Read full review

  • 75
    Philadelphia Inquirer | Steven Rea

    If you love Les Mis the stage musical, my guess is you will love what Hooper and his bustling company have done. But when you hear "Master of the House" and you think of the Seinfeld episode with Elaine's gruff dad belting the tune before you think of those shifty innkeepers the Thénardiers, then you may want to steer clear of this grand endeavor. Read full review

  • 63
    Boston Globe | Wesley Morris

    After 2½ hours, the movie's become a bowl of trail mix - you're picking out the nuts you don't like and hoping the next bite doesn't contain any craisins. All the carefully crafted misérables turns into a pile of miz. Read full review

  • 60
    Movieline | Alison Willmore

    Even at a generous running time that matches this season's other giant award candidates, Les Misérables seems like it's in a hurry, skittering from one number to the next without interlude. After Hathaway's early high point, it starts to feel numbing, an unending barrage of musical emoting carrying us through Valjean's adopting of Cosette, the latter's first encounter with Marius, the battle at the barricade and a last hour that can feel like it's a non-stop series of death arias. Read full review

  • 50
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    Fans of Les Misérables wouldn't have minded if the movie were different, but better, or just as effective. The screen version demanded some reconception, some vision to make sense of its existence. Instead, we're left with a film that is conscientious in all its particulars and yet strangely and mysteriously dead. Read full review

  • 50
    The Hollywood Reporter | Todd McCarthy

    As the enduring success of this property has shown, there are large, emotionally susceptible segments of the population ready to swallow this sort of thing, but that doesn't mean it's good. Read full review

  • 50
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    This steam-driven military weapon of an enterprise is a sobering reminder of just how tinny a musical Les Misérables was in the first place. Read full review

View more reviews for Les Miserables (2012) on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says OK for kids 14+ Excellent film adaptation of gritty, heartbreaking musical.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this all-star version of Les Miserables is an adaptation of the world-famous stage musical, which itself is based on Victor Hugo's classic 1862 novel. Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, and Anne Hathaway star in the gritty, often-heartbreaking tale of justice, duty, love, and revolution. The film deals with abject poverty, prostitution, imprisonment, corruption, war, and death; all of which fans of the musical will be expecting -- but bringing the story to the screen means it has a much more realistic feel (despite the fact that the actors sing virtually all of the dialogue). Characters suffer painful beatings, degrade themselves out of desperation, engage in gun and bayonet fights, claw their way through unspeakable filth, and more. Expect some bawdy lyrics/references (with a sprinkling of curse words, including one "s--t"), a very sad scene in which an unwilling prostitute "entertains" a client, plenty of cleavage, some blood, and a few very sad deaths (including one suicide). But ultimately, Les Miserables is about the redemptive power of love and faith, and there are many moments of hope and beauty amid the miserable ones.
  • Families can talk about the movie's messages. What is it saying about faith and love? About justice and duty? Why is Javert so determined to take Valjean back to prison? Valjean clearly becomes a noble person, even though he's also a fugitive and a lawbreaker. Does he deserve to go to back to jail, as the law requires?
  • Why are the students so passionate about their cause? Do you agree with them that it's one worth dying for? Have you ever felt that strongly about anything?
  • How well do film actors perform in a movie that requires them to sing almost every line of dialogue? Why do you think filmmakers cast mostly movie stars instead of veteran stage actors?
  • For fans of the stage musical -- which version do you prefer, and why? What was changed? What was missing -- or added? Why do you think the filmmakers made the changes they did?
The good stuff
  • message true3 Positive messages: The story's ultimate take-away is about the redemptive power of faith and love -- of God and/or of another person. And it raises thoughtful questions about the nature of justice, power, and duty. That said, many of the characters live truly miserable lives, and good deeds are rarely rewarded. But Jean Valjean does seek to do the right thing and to care for others, even though it might cost him his freedom. And Marius and his cohorts are motivated by passion and dedication to an ideal, even if things don't go the way they planned.
  • rolemodels true3 Positive role models: Although Jean Valjean is a fugitive who breaks parole and spends much of the film trying to avoid being recaptured, the fact that he was originally imprisoned for a minor crime and then spends the rest of his life trying to selflessly help others are powerful mitigating factors. The dogged Javert is motivated by a powerful sense of duty and always thinks he's doing the right thing. The students are driven by a passionate belief in a cause. Fantine is a devoted mother who will do anything to keep her child safe; Eponine is similarly self-sacrificing for love. The Thenardiers are moral black holes who stop at nothing to make a profit, but they're clearly intended to be scoundrels.
What to watch for
  • violence false3 Violence: Much of the second half of the film focuses on  the June Rebellion, a Paris uprising in 1832; there are many battle scenes that include gunfights, cannons, explosions, hand-to-hand combat with bayonets and fists, and plenty of dramatic, sad deaths (even children are involved). Because it's a musical, the violence is more play-like than realistic, and there's not much blood or gore (though one post-battle scene does show a stream of blood running down the cobblestone pavement), but it feels much grittier than the stage production. There are also some nasty beatings and a bone-crunching suicide leap. A woman prostitutes herself out of desperation; the scene is brutal and heart-wrenching. She scuffles with a potential client and bites him (a little blood is shown).
  • sex false3 Sexy stuff: Some bawdy scenes/references, especially in a few scenes that feature prostitutes and a brothel. One scene shows a prostitute being used by a client (her skirt is up; he's on top of her); it isn't erotic or revealing. Lots of cleavage; lyrics include phrases like "ready for a quick one or a thick one in the park" and "thinks he's quite a lover, but there's not much there."
  • language false3 Language: Almost all the dialogue is sung, with very little profanity, but there are a couple of uses of words including "s--t" (once), "bitch," "ass," "hell," "damn," and "bastard." Other songs have some sexual references and mentions of whores.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false2 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Several scenes feature people drinking wine, including one set at an inn that's filled with drunken patrons.
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