Phantom of the Opera

Well, this is a piece of recent history. I finished this puppy up last week and I made sure to write up my laundry list of thoughts. I know people that have seen this and raved about it, but I inherantly question anything that deals with Joel Schumacher. Especially when said raving people have a facination with all things Hollywood and Disney being quality material. Believe me, I have room and experience to question this source.

Anyway, I'll get into the specifics later. I'll be blunt and honest now for the sake of people needing advice first and reasons later. I wouldn't buy this for 5$. I would have never seen it in the theatre, or rented it.

I thank all good things in this world I was able to get it from the library for free. I think the only other time I MIGHT see this if I were utterly bored and had no cleaning to do and was bed-ridden that I would watch it on cable. If there were no other re-runs on. At all. Not the worst movie I've seen by any means. The only thing keeping this movie half-way true to the play and book was probably because Webber was a part of the production team. Otherwise I'm sure this would have been intolerable and needed a title change to the Raving Singing Lunatics of an Old Paris Opera. Two out of five. This should have been a direct remake of the play, not an interpretation- it falls way short.

Breakdown:

Good Things

I liked the costumes.

Christine's Aria was done beautifully, I was surprised that Rossum did her own singing. I had to wince at the last refrain though, she couldn't quite sustain the note and interpreted a bit. But Sarah Brightman is a hard act to follow.

The Point of No Return was the highlight of the movie, and one of the few things about the movie that inspired any emotion in me. Even in a bad movie that duet can make skin break out in goose bumps and the blood race.

Music of the Night follows a close second in relation to Point of No Return.

Jennifer Ellison was a GREAT Meg. Here's hoping she can expand her career.

Gerard Butler isn't Michael Crawford, but I give him props on a mostly great performance. He was the one actor upholding the weight of the sinking ship. He fit the costume really well though and carried out the drama to the hilt.

Patrick Wilson makes a good Raoul.

Bad Things

In many places I'm suspicious they used the original cast recording for the movie, sounds like a lot of the exact same musical quirks as the ten year old CD I have. Maybe I'm being too critical.

Whomever decided that an ELECTRIC GUITAR fit in with the Phantom theme should be SHOT.

Seeing the amount of PINK on Carlotta, let alone Minnie Driver was disgusting and horrifing.

I was really unhappy with the Phantom theme duet.

The Masquerade choreography was really stiff, I felt it fell really short of what they could have done. I have never seen the stage production, and so I really can't compare this- but its the movies. Awkward cutting didn't help either.

I cannot say it enough times, I HATE movies that start at the end of a story and then jump to the beginning, or worse, continually reflect back to present then to past- etc.

On that note, the 'future' scenes are over done. I'm ok with a little film grain, but this was over done. I wouldn't even expect an amatuer dv camera to have this much noise. Also, the black and white was very unecessary and distracting. It hurts the eyes and jars the watcher from the story instead of adding to it. These could have been cut and no one would have missed them.

Blazing candelabras raising from a lake??

Slow motion singing is not a good idea. Permissable in action, rediculous while watching someone try to sing and the soundtrack is going at normal speed. Quite funny.

Having snatches of song off camera while the actor that is singing them is on camera and their lips clamped shut or simply wide open. Sure, they're singing. Its ventriloquism.

Pure Schumacher- it had to have been his idea to have people put their gilded arms through walls of the set for the Phantom's lair hallway, holding candelabras. You don't see them past this scene, its just moving arms with candles. Its stupid and pointless and for seeing this rediculous idea put on camera, I wish I'd seen someone caught on fire in that small space.

Watch at your own risk. You have been forewarned.