Is Les Misérables the Must-See Movie of the Holiday Season?

The must-see holiday movie of the year opened Christmas Day as Les Misérables, starring Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe, hit theaters nationwide.

The movie adaptation of the world’s longest-running musical features Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper’s innovation of actors singing live, taping their singing parts while filming rather than lip-synching and their songs being added in post-production. The result is best captured when Anne Hathaway, as the desperate single mother Fantine, sings “I Dreamed A Dream” and the audience sobs with her as she despairs over her life as a prostitute.

Hooper honors the source material from Victor Hugo’s story while providing a visual feast, from the opening scene where you brace yourself to be splashed with water to floating upward with a torn piece of paper rising to heaven to balancing on a narrow ledge with Notre Dame.

Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter add comic relief as corrupt innkeepers and the cruel foster parents of Fantine's daughter, Cosette. One of their scenes will leave you roaring with laughter while vowing never to eat sausage again.

While set in 19th century France, the movie’s themes make it feel relevant for today. Take your teens, but not your kids under age 13. In addition to the movie’s violence, watching Fantine’s descent into hell as she sells her hair, teeth, then finally herself away will break your heart and leave a child with nightmares—Les Misérables indeed.

According to MovieFone, the movie is showing at several venues in and near Cupertino, including:

• Century Cinemas 16
• AMC Mercado 20
• Century Redwood City 20
• AMC Cupertino Square 16
• Century San Jose 24 2
• Century at Pacific Commons

Prefer to read the book first?

Now's your chance to get book for free online. For a limited (and unspecified) amount of time, Amazon.com is offering a free e-reader download of the classic novel.

Visit Amazon.com for your free download of Les Miserables today.

The eBook can be read on your Kindle or Kindle Fire. If you don’t have a Kindle, you can also download it to your smartphone, computer or iPad.

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