The singing is horrid. Hugh Jackman (he's so hawt) cannot keep his head still when he sings. Amanda Seyfried sounds like a dying cat when she squeezes out her high notes. Anne Hathaway was okay. And don't even get me started on Russel Crowe's monotonous crap he calls "singing." I mean, thank god Samantha Barks was picked up from West End. She redeemed the entire cast with "On My Own."
But anyway, it may be hard to follow if you don't do prior research or you only watch it one time. It's all these stories of different people that are ultimately all related to the main story. The actual story is beautiful-- it's about a man who commits a crime, and after being shown kindness by a bishop he basically learns to live his life in the grace of God by giving grace to those all around him. Now the cop who wanted to catch him for nine years struggles with bringing the man to justice (which he believes is his duty from God), or following his own moral beliefs of letting him go because the criminal has now made good of his life. And thrown in there are other characters with stories that are intertwined with the criminal's story. It's one of the most touching movies/musicals/books I've ever come across.