I'd say it is one of the worst-filmed big budget movies I've seen in a long time. Everything being in extreme closeup kind of rendered breaking the confines of a stage pointless.
Therefore I give Russell Crowe the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps he just had trouble singing with a camera up his nose. It was like Tom Hooper figured that rather than using the opportunity of film to expand the stage he'd instead use it to make the audience feel like they were sitting in the front row.
And, Anne Hathaway was very good. But if she wins an Oscar because she sang one song reasonably well I'll be disappointed. I know the precedent is set by Jennifer Hudson, but still. (Also sad to learn that even in heaven she didn't get her hair back.)
Castle in the Clouds and Master of the House are my two favorite numbers and they both came of kind of flat in the movie. Things did start to click in the last 45 minutes or I'd have ended up hating it a fair amount.
Oh, one other minor distraction. By the end, Hugh Jackman was looking an awful lot like Michael Landon on Little House. Especially the one scene where he comes out in an undershirt, wearing suspender. "Who am I? I'm Charles Ingalls!"