Title: Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera
Rating: PG-13
Directed by: Joel Schumacher
Written by: Gaston LeRoux, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Joel Schumacher
Studio: Warner Brothers
The plan to go see The Phantom of the Opera the day it came out fell through. Then, the plan to go see it on Christmas Day fell through as everyone was both stuffed with food and mucous at the same time. So, after an already eventful day, we finally got to the theater with free Christmas passes.
Some backstory before I get into this. I went to the movie with my girlfriend. My girlfriend has 15 years of violin and classical voice training behind her. She can spot things that, musically, completely go over my head.
That being said, Phantom of the Opera was the first Broadway musical I’d ever seen and remains my favorite. When I heard it was coming to the screen, I was happy and concerned at the same time. Happy because I knew they could do more with a film than is possible with the limitations of the stage. But concerned because the guy who ruined Batman was going to be in charge of the whole production.
As it turns out, that fear was unfounded.
The Good
Joel Schumacher’s love of huge, flashy sets and people jumping around in ridiculous costumes doesn’t hurt Phantom, it only helps it. I don’t know if any other director today could bring the Opera Populaire to life with such flair as Schumacher can. From the gothic looking outside, to the huge staircases in the entryway, to the horse statues on the roof of the opera house, Joel Schumacher can put a scene like that together. In fact, he does this so well that I’ve read other idiot critics talk about this like it was a bad thing. They think the scene where Masquerade is sung is too flashy.
Don’t listen to them. These scenes that critics are calling over flashy are supposed to be overly flashy. It’s part of the story. They are huge, overblown productions because it’s what fits the story. People in orange and yellow glittery costumes doesn’t work in Batman, but it works perfectly in Phantom. They were able to do the musical complete justice on the screen.
The music was also spot on. Obviously, if you stick Lloyd Webber in charge of music, the music is going to be good. I said in my preview of this movie that he is easily the best musical composer of our time, and this converts to the screen. He can write a score and, even though there are only about four themes through all the songs in the movie, they fit.
So, in short, the sight and sound in the movie was perfect and exactly what I’d hoped. From the Opera Populaire to the Graveyard to the Phantom’s Catacombs. Perfection all around and, though I don’t care much for movie awards based in these categories, it would be a crime if these people didn’t win awards for their work.
Minnie Driver. At first I did not understand their casting of her as Carlotta. Everyone else in the movie was doing their own singing, yet they cast Driver as Carlotta, and hired another woman to do her singing offstage. After watching the film, Driver does a great Carlotta. She is over the top and pulls off the diva role tremendously well. She puts on screen a terrific performance as a spoiled diva who needs everything done her way or the highway. She displays the proper hatred for Christine with snide looks and jabs without ever being outspoken about it.
And, although I though Driver deserved special accolades for Carlotta, that isn’t to take away from the other actors and actresses. I though nearly all of them fit their roles perfectly except one, which I will get to in
The Bad
I could not get past Gerard Butler as the Phantom. I tried, really I did. I had always visualized the Phantom as being significantly older than Christine. Butler does not seem that much older than Emmy Rossum. He is also not much of a singer. I have read on IMDB that Lloyd Webber has wanted Butler as the film Phantom since Dracula 2000 was released. I don’t understand it, but he’s the professional.
I also was very disappointed in the way they rearranged the second act of the musical, though I do understand. Keeping the movie underneath the three and change hours the musical goes required them to drop the rehearsal scenes of Don Juan, which also required them to drop one of my favorite songs, Notes II. However, they moved part of the song and attached it to Masquerade and another part into it’s own scene. And, since they removed the entirety of the rehearsal scenes, it wouldn’t have made sense to send Firmin and Andre a note about how poorly the Phantom thinks the third trombone is playing. Moviewise, this doesn’t affect the flow of the film, but it was just a personal annoyance.
I thought the singing was fine. To my ear, everyone but Butler hit their high notes convincingly and easily. However, to someone who knows what they are listening for, it was graded a C at best. Emmy Rossum has a tendency to fade up into her high notes rather than just going there at the beginning. Not to take away from her voice, but it’s obviously untrained. This is included to make the review complete. An untrained ear like mine, and probably most of the people reading this, probably won’t notice, even if they’ve been to the musical and repeatedly listen to the musical recordings, like myself.
The Rest
At the end of the movie, I was satisfied. I liked the way it translated to film even though I wasn’t thrilled with some of the songs that were chosen for the cutting room floor. I hope that, on the DVD, they eventually release a complete version of the film with the removed scenes from the musical restored. The removal of the scenes didn’t detract from the movie as a whole, and the final scene Shumacher added, with an aged Raoul visiting the cemetery. Without spoiling the movie, let me just say that the final symbol of the Phantom was well done and left you with some sense of how much the Angel of Music loved Christine.
Strong rating from me, and I hope you give it a chance when it has it’s wide release in January.
