LogFAQs > #933182055

25. The Phantom of the Opera

Karo: 11
Johnbobb: 15
Scarlet: 16
Inviso: 17
JONA: 27
KBM: 29
Genny: 34

Karo - The classic tale adapted to the big screen by people who really love putting singing voices through an echo filter.
You know how it goes, the girl falls for the masked man who lives in the basement and whose actual deformity is wildly inconstant between any given scene in the movie. Like seriously, his scars range anywhere between 'bad sunburn, bro' and 'holy fuck cthulhu impregnated your face'.
It is not quite as good of a movie as it should have been, there is a lot of just going through the motions and some really questionable cinematography, especially in the swordfight in the graveyard.
Even with all this, the music at the heart of the matter remains excellent, as does the classic story, and despite the producers best attempts to make it otherwise, it still remains a fairly decent film.

Score: 68/100

Best Song: 'Music of the Night'

Johnbobb - I've definitely got my issues with this. Little details seem to be completely overlooked, with the worst offender probably being the fact that the Phantom's mask doesn't cover parts of his face that are later "revealed" to be scarred. The behaviors of characters are largely unrealistic and the plot is mostly predictable and the film throws subtlety of any sort entirely out the window. Honestly though, I'm willing to forgive a lot of it for the excellent music, costume design, and especially set design. It reminds me of Bram Stoker's Dracula pretty hard; it's almost entirely just spectacle, but that spectacle is pretty great.
Favorite song: The Phantom of the Opera

Scarlet - It is not and could never be superior in any way to the stage adaptation of this, likely the most influential musical of the late 20th century, but Phantom remains a powerhouse of music for a reason. The cast proves to be double-edged, showcasing the dangers of the broad musical performances translated to the intimate setting of a silver screen, while also offering some scenery chewing performances.
Best Song: Music of the Night

Inviso - This movie was perfectly acceptable and perfectly serviceable. Ive never actually seen or heard the Phantom of the Opera stage production before, so I have nothing to really compare this against. The set design was really beautiful and I feel like the movie format allowed for some truly interesting sets for the action to take place within. The singing was pretty good. I admit that Gerard Butler (who looks SO weird without a beard) was a weak point among the vocals of the film, but overall, nothing stood out as being particularly terrible, in a movie where most of the film is sung, rather than spoken with songs interspersed. And you know what else? Despite being over two hours long, the film never felt like it dragged. Sure, there were a few songs that didnt feel completely necessary, but they still flowed nicely, and the end result was some solid emotion throughout the film.

JONA - It feels like there could be a better made movie using the same source. I say this as someone who has not seen the original musical. While I liked the setting and music, the characters could have been more compelling. The Phantom seemed more interesting than he ended up being in this film. The romance was pretty whatever, but not the worst. With all those factors, you end up with a movie thats like the middle option of a gauntlet but also you dont want to kill both.
Favorite Song: The Phantom of the Opera

KBM - Why I Chose It:The Phantom of the Opera, the 1986 Andrew Lloyd Webber musical based on Gaston Leroux's 1910 novel, is the most successful musical of all time. Its original 1988 Broadway production is still running to this day, having had over 13,000 performances, making it the longest-running show in Broadway history by a very wide margin. The show has won all kinds of awards, including the Tony and Olivier Awards for Best Musical, and has accrued an estimated $5.6 billion in worldwide receipts. So, of course, when a film was released in 2004, it was very highly anticipated. The result was met with mixed reviews, with praise and Oscar nominations for the art direction and cinematography, but negative comments highlighting Joel Schumacher's directing and screenplay, as well as Gerard Butler's performance as the eponymous Phantom. The added song "Learn to Be Lonely," sung by Minnie Driver in the film's credits, was also nominated for Best Original Song.

My Thoughts: Sometimes it seems to me that one of the most surefire ways to ruin a beloved pre-existing property is to give it to Joel Schumacher to adapt. Though this isn't as bad as the likes of The Wiz or Batman & Robin, it's not exactly a good movie either. I confess, I used to really love this movie as a teenager, when this was the only version of Phantom I was familiar with. But as I got older, explored different recordings of the show, and especially after the brilliant 25th Anniversary performance starring Sierra Boggess and Ramin Karimloo was released when I was in college, I no longer really had any use for this mess of an adaptation. The show itself lives and dies on the performances of Christine Daa and the Phantom, and though I really don't like either Sarah Brightman or Michael Crawford much at all (the original Broadway performers), their performances were at the very least memorable enough to launch the show into the massive success it became. The movie is plagued with truly strange choices, from changing some of the lyrics to spoken dialogue for no discernable reason, the casting of a man who truly cannot sing as the Phantom, the totally underwhelming deformity on said actor's face, and some bizarrely literal and over-the-top visual choices from Joel Schumacher (for more on this, check out Lindsay Ellis' excellent review https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m5I_5Vnh6A&t=17s trust me, you won't be disappointed). It's possible I have too much love for the source material and that that clouds my judgment here, but there are several instances on this list where I love the musical and the movie to almost the same degree. This adaptation, despite all the spectacle and budget and Name Actors (well, partially BECAUSE of the name actors), just kinda blows it. A much better adaptation than this was very possible... but at least Gerard Butler's performance is good to laugh at. Side note: I do like Emmy Rossum just fine as Christine, and many of the supporting c