les miserables ( pg-13 ) * * * ( out of * * * * ) the calendar year has not even reached its midway point , but that hasn't prevented columbia pictures from trotting out a lavish period drama more befitting of the winter oscar-bait season . bille august's high-profile adaptation of victor hugo's classic les miserables delivers everything one would expect from a classy hollywood epic--handsome production values , strong performances by a top-notch cast , a literate screenplay--with one critically missing element : emotional sweep . for those not familiar with hugo's original novel or the hit stage musical it inspired , the hook of les miserables essentially boils down to something like a 19th-century french-set version of the fugitive . after serving 19 years in a prison work camp for stealing a loaf of bread , the brutish jean valjean ( liam neeson ) is paroled . immediately upon release , he steals valuable silverware from a kindly bishop who takes him in for a night ; he is caught by authorities , only to be forgiven by the bishop , who lets valjean keep the silver to start a new life on the straight and narrow . that he does , and in doing so breaks his parole , which sets the obsessively determined inspector javert ( geoffrey rush ) , who was one of the guards in valjean's prison camp , on his trail . thematically , however , les miserables is a story about redemption , which valjean finds through his dealings with two women , the hard-luck factory-worker-turned-prostitute fantine ( uma thurman ) , and her illegitimate daughter , cosette . years after breaking parole , valjean becomes mayor of the town of vigau , where he forms a warm friendship with fantine after saving her from an unjust arrest by javert . valjean promises the gravely ill fantine he will rescue the young cosette ( mimi newman ) from her cruel caretakers , the thenardiers , and raise the child as his own . the " father " and " daughter " eventually land in paris , where the teenage cosette ( claire danes ) falls for dashing student revolutionary marius ( hans matheson ) . the decades-spanning story is the stuff that cinematic epics are made of , and the danish august turns in his most accomplished english-language work , following the underrated 1994 superstar soap the house of the spirits and last year's stylish but highly preposterous mystery smilla's sense of snow . he and screenwriter rafael yglesias bring the sprawling tale into clear focus and keep the events moving at a brisk pace . production designer anna asp , costume designer gabriella pescucci , and cinematographer jorgen persson give les miserables a sumptuous period look whose accomplishment is mostly matched by the efforts of the cast . neeson is commanding yet endearingly vulnerable ; rush's finely modulated menace is far more rewarding than his overrated , oscar-winning theatrics in shine ; and thurman disappears nicely into her highly unglamorous role . the younger members of the cast fare less well . danes is convincing as cosette , but her overdone lip quivering during her crying scenes becomes a distraction ; and matheson , while competent , is a less interesting robert sean leonard . as technically adept and cerebrally engaging the film is , by the time les miserables was over , my emotions had only been superficially involved . while i was touched by valjean's relationships with fantine and cosette , i was not moved . not even reaching the " touching " level is the cosette-marius pairing . my only previous experience with les miserables is with the musical ( as i am sure many others' is ) , and i was dismayed to see eponine , a friend of marius's who selflessly dies in the name of her unspoken love for him , almost completely jettisoned from this adaptation ( the daughter of the thenardiers , here she is only briefly seen as a child ) . her presence would have added some much-needed conflict and emotional heft to the youthful romance , but i suppose august and yglesias felt one tragic heroine ( fantine ) was enough . even so , as 1998 creeps into summer blockbuster season , les miserables is a thoughtful , well-made , entertaining film , one that will sate moviegoers hungry for a dose of drama before popcorn no-brainers invade the multiplex . 
