Musical fans everywhere held their breath in anticipation and fear upon hearing that the musical sensation, Les Misérables, was being adapted as a feature film for the first time.

Right after the fervor of Christmas, I settled into my seat at the movie theater, pencil at the ready, preparing my cynical comments before the previews had even played.

And I was just as thrilled by the movie. Well, almost.

Hugh Jackman starred in the dynamic role of Jean Valjean, a convict who turned his life around over the course of several years. While an actor most known for playing an X-Men character may not appear as the ideal choice for a main lead in the musical, Jackman has been in several Broadway productions and has even won a Tony award.

Jackman’s character endures many transformations, both physically and emotionally, and he succeeds in showing this. He opens as a frightening, hardened prisoner, but by the end of the film he becomes a loving, frail old man whose death brought a tear to the eyes of my fellow moviegoers.

Other highlights included Anne Hathaway’s portrayal of the bold and sacrificial worker-turned-prostitute, Fantine. The role’s famous solo, “I Dreamed a Dream,” could have been an opportunity for Hathaway to showcase her vocal talents, but by singing unedited and live, she instead gave a broken, raw performance. It was all I could do not to applaud—and I could feel this need from the audience throughout the film.

Film and theater are night and day: the art of filmmaking is all about subtlety and realism, whereas musicals and plays center on exaggerating life and idealizing the world. The bright, clean costumes I saw in the Fox’s production of Les Mis were traded for torn-up, tawdry rags that portrayed the grit and reality of life in 1800’s France.

The drama and grandness of stage acting was replaced with the quiet, heartfelt performances of the film. With the help of camera angles, lighting devices, and special effects, all of the emotions audiences have felt in stage productions of the show have been magnified.

In October 2012, I attended a performance of Les Mis put on by Saint Louis’ own Fabulous Fox. The vocals in the show were powerful, the sets unimaginable, the actors superb—of course I was a bit skeptical when I heard of the new production starring Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, and Russel Crowe.

There were some difficulties translating the musical, however. For instance, in order to cut down for time, a song or two and several lines of dialogue have been removed, and often the pacing of the film seems rushed and inconsistent. On the other hand, the movie gets the chance to show-not-tell many scenes that the musical didn’t get the chance to do, like Valjean’s escape with Cosette.

Another feature that was unfortunately lost in translation was the role of Inspector Javert, played by Russel Crowe. Crowe, unlike his costars Hugh Jackman (Valjean), Eddie Redmayne (Marius), and Aaron Tveit (Enjolras), has never performed on Broadway. Crowe’s musical background is limited—he was in the rock band 30 Odd Foot of Grunts in the 1980s—and it shows. His voice is not the powerhouse required for this role, and his acting seems forced, as though he were reading his lines off-screen. The character of Javert is indeed cold and callous, but I read Crowe’s performance as robotic and underplayed.

Despite this, I encourage lovers of the musical to pull through Crowe’s lackluster acting to see the towering sets, staggering effects, and harrowing production design.

To capture the film, I must resort the now-taboo word “epic.” Everything about this show is vivid and real and huge, accomplishing what theater directors could only dream of. That’s what I hoped this production would be—a bigger and better version of what theatergoers have come to love. I highly recommend new and old fans of Les Misérables go see this adaptation in theaters, and happily give it three and a half paws for a unique and accurate interpretation of a classic musical.