Who's watched it? I watched a few concert versions, but not the full Broadway musical... and, I watched the movie musical last night! Pity they rushed it so much, but then again it is a very lengthy stage show, and movies don't have intermission.
I appreciate that they used the movie medium to make it super ugly and gritty, to really show the life of The Miserable, economically underprivileged people, unemployed single mothers, ex-convicts, student protestors, and/or unrequited lovers.
One big criticism of the story that I've heard, was how it eventually becomes Les Coincidences. I prefer to call it a karmacopia
I mean, the main characters get decades of breaks between confrontations. However, what was more of the centerpiece to me, was how both Jean Valjean and Javert had their sincere understanding of the capital-g God that was yet very very different and conflicting with one another.