Definitely a five-Kleenex weepie - you're uncomfortably aware that your heartstrings are about to be well and truly twanged upon. Full marks to Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean,with his haunted, ravaged face and his huge emoting eyes (incongruously at odds with his extremely buff physique)and to Russell Crowe, who it turns out is rather a good singer and particularly brilliant as obsessive deputy Javert. Almost full marks for Anne Hathaway as Fantine - she courageously avoided looking pretty, having gone for the pale consumptive look with hair hacked off and teeth yanked out, and her singing was indeed heart-rending - she couldn't quite go the whole nine yards and have teeth that weren't sparkly white; but this a minor niggle. More serious were the heavy-handed direction (uh-oh, here comes another harrowing bit) though that's probably more Victor Hugo's fault than Tom Hooper's - and the occasional longueurs.

And I'm sorry but the entire script being sung does get incredibly tedious after a while. Tedium punctuated by fits of sobbing - is this really what you want out of a movie? To be fair the tedium was relieved from time to time by Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham-Carter as the rapacious Thénardiers, and more notably by ravishing newcomer Samantha Barks as their doomed daughter Eponine. She must have the tiniest waist in the business and has the witchy scene-stealing star quality that was sadly lacking in Amanda Seyfried as grown-up Cosette. Eddie Redmayne was horribly mis-cast.