Most of the actors speak in British accents as a form of Translation Convention, considering that they would really be speaking French. As pointed out on the main page, many of these accents are faux-Cockney, as this would "translate" to a lower-class Parisian accent. However, Sacha Baron Cohen, one of the few actual British actors in the production, speaks with a French accent. By the laws of Translation Convention, he may be trying to imply that his sleazy character speaks with a faux upper-class Parisian accent to make his customers believe he's a lot classier than he really is.
The doll in the toymaker's window has brown hair and brown eyes—quite unlike the blonde, blue-eyed Cosette, but much like Fantine. Besides the fact that the poor girl had never owned a toy in her life, let alone a beautiful doll, it probably reminded her of her mother and those few happy memories of the time they had spent together.
Valjean starts as a convict with a shaven head, dressed in red tatters. By the time Fantine is arrested and confronts Valjean, her head's been shorn and she's wearing a bright red dress, as an Ironic Echo of Valjean's own helplessness and powerlessness.
Valjean manages to casually see through every one of the Thenardier's well-practiced routines to pick his pocket. Having spent 19 years in jail, Valjean has learned a thing or two!
Most people are very divided on Russel Crowe’s performance of Javert, citing an overall lack of range, volume, and vocal presence, especially in “Stars.” It is usually seen as a declaration of Javert’s crusade to capture Valjean, using the stars and God as his witness. However, in the film version, Crowe’s Javert is singing this song right after Valjean has just escaped him for the second time. Crowe’s Javert sings the song much more softly, but with just as much emphasis, while walking along a narrow ledge. This is not a Javert that is planning a personal crusade, but a Javert reassuring himself in his faith that, just as the stars have their order in the sky, so too does the world have an order, which is the law. His faith in this order is illustrated by his walking on the ledge; it is dangerous, and he could fall, but he firmly believes that God will keep him from falling in accordance with this order, just as He orders the stars in the sky. This is referenced again in “Javert’s Suicide;” once again, he is walking along a ledge and pondering the order of the world. However, this time, his belief in this order is shaken. He remarks that “the stars are black and cold,” and is no longer certain about his faith in God or the nature of the law. When this faith is challenged, he falls from the ledge and dies.
A bit of meta Fridge Horror: Frances Ruffelle, the original West End Eponine, played one of the prostitutes at the Docks (who tells Fantine that she can "make money in her sleep"). Eponine sacrificed herself for Marius and Cosette by alerting Valjean to the Patron-Minette's presence, and after that she is no longer seen with her parents (presumably, Thénardier kicked her out). Even though she "knows her way around", it is very likely that if she had survived the barricades, she would have fallen to a life of (worse) crime to get by, or—just like Fantine—prostitution, because of her love for a man that will never fully reciprocate it (Marius/Felix Tholomyès), and the happiness of Cosette (in Eponine's case, if Marius is happy, then Cosette is happy).
In the scenes before the revolution, the French commoners shout "Vive le France". However, this cannot be French; they live in France, and are French people, so what we hear as English (or whatever language you watch the film in) is translated French. What we hear as French is...?
Probably still French. I don't know the exact translation of "Vive le France" in English is, but I'd wager a guess that it doesn't sound as good as the original French.
"Vive la France" pretty much means "Long Live France". It was probably left in French because it is a rather iconic motto of the French Revolution.
Why was Javert the one to try to infiltrate the boys at the barricade? Even in a time when photography is barely a thing, everyone knows Javert by sight—when Eponine is serving as lookout for her parents in the scene where Marius and Cosette fall in Love at First Sight, she screams "It's Javert!" the second he arrives, and people scatter at the sound of his name. If literally any other police officer had infiltrated the barricade in disguise, the plot almost certainly would have worked.
Ah, but Eponine, her parents, and the people who scattered are lower-class (criminals, most likely, or at the very least street urchins). They would have reason to know a fearsome Inspector by face. Javert was probably banking on the revolution only consisting of middle- and upper- class people/students, and as a result didn't expect being exposed by Gavroche.
