primeideal

-One advantage of watching a stage production is that when nothing happens except someone standing around and singing a solo, that's fine! They're far away and you can't see them in a lot of detail, so you're free to look around at the scenery or whatever. In a movie they can just zoom in on a person so there's nothing to look at except their face, and that doesn't hold my interest as much. So it took a while for me to really get into it (i.e. Valjean's soliloquy early on was slow. The characters are very emotional so the singing is more ragged than it might otherwise be).
-In contrast, large cast scenes are more interesting early on (Lovely Ladies was good, and Master of the House was fantastic because they could keep showing what the Thenardiers are actually doing).
-Some of the songs were out of order from what I remember but flowed just as well or better in the other positions. (Lovely Ladies vs. I Dreamed A Dream). "Do You Hear The People Sing" came later than expected and had an extra reprise but other than that it was pretty faithful to the musical.
-There were, as advertised, some brief nods to the book. Possibly more that I don't remember.
-A hilarious moment came during Valjean's and Javert's duel in the hospital--they kept cutting to the confused nuns!
-The building the barricade scene and the first conflict was a little hard to follow. The students also came off as more competent than I usually envision them.
-I feel like there should be a witty point to make about gun control but it's not coming.
-Also a line that struck me more than usual was "You're free/and there are no conditions/no bargains or petitions." The contrast between that and the opening comes across really well.
-The end was, of course, emotional. So was Javert's soliloquy.