Review: Phantom Of The Opera
 

I was raised by a family that absolutely loved to go to the theater. I've been dragged along to many productions, been forced to listen repeatedly to their sound tracks on tape, and have eventually grown to appreciate a few of them for their musical content. So, I was pretty excited to learn that they were making a Phantom Of The Opera movie. I made sure that I saw it on opening night.

Ok, for those of you who have any question: THIS IS A MUSICAL. It is directed like a musical. It is acted like a musical. It has a lot of songs in it. If you go see this movie thinking it's a drama adapted from a broadway play, you're gonna be disappointed. The crowd I saw this with was decidedly younger than I would have expected, and I could hear a few comments about all the damn singing... well fuckin' DUH!

I'll just tell you that I enjoyed it a lot. It was more of a walk down memory lane for me, and all the great songs were in the mix. Emmy Rossum is totally watchable, and the two other leads were.. of musical caliber. I just gotta say, though, that I dont think someone without any prior 'musical play' experience can appreciate this.

Anyways, it's worth a look. The audience gave it an applause.

I really want to see it. I love big screen musicals. I'm glad to hear it was so good. :)

I just recently saw this play in the theatre. I loved it as a play, not really sure how I'd like it as a movie. I just may have to go see it and get back with you...

I saw it done by professional Broadway actors as a musical, and it was good. I liked it. I like the music from it anyways, so to see it was a treat. I don't like a lot of stuff like that, but Phantom of the Opera is good.

Interesting. I've seen a shitload of Bway musicals, and I despise Phantom with a vengeance. I'm not sure why. I feel like the chandelier is gimmicky and the music has never really resonated with me the way other shows (including others of Andrew Lloyd Webber's) have done. I saw it when I was about 14, and then went back ten years later to make sure that I wasn't just cranky the first time. Unfortunately, I didn't like it any better the second time around.

I am happy that Chicago has paved the way for musicals to make their way back into movie form, however, and I see Phantom's adaptation as a very good thing. I hope it does well, primarily for that reason.

i dont like musicals either but this looked interesting to say the least. Good review

I enjoyed some of the songs, 'The Phantom of the Opera' song is quite rousing. This was too much like an opera for me to handle though. Don't get me wrong, I like musicals, but there is hardly any talking in the movie, they sing the words to each other most of the time.
I went with someone who had seen the stage play and they said they enjoyed it but the theatre version is 100 times better, you don't get any of the atmosphere at the movies.

I'm interested in hearing the quality of the performers voices in the movie and how it compares with what I have seen in the theater. I just recently saw the show in Tampa and it was very well done. Good voices all around, but the original cast (Michael Crawford, Sarah Brightman) in 1986 were amazing. Its hard to compare the originals to anyone in my opinion.

http://www.theonion.com/news/index.php?issue=4051&n=1

Found this.. quite funny.

As a vocal performance major and a huge fan of the theatre... I must say, I went in with low expectations and was pleasantly wrong. I was worried that the changes would be too large, and that the casting would be bad. I was wrong on both counts.

Emmy Rossum is not only super hot (holy crap), but she's a great vocalist and actor. The other roles were also all well done. I love Phantom, and this was an unexpected treat. Go see it if you liked the stage play, or even if you haven't and want to experience it.

I love it. :D It rocks. I gave my mom tickets. I love it. Its almost if it is a musical, except better produced, and it never has mistakes :D

God lubbs ya Hollywood

I saw Gerard Butler on one of the talk shows, and when he got the part his mother said that she didn't even know he could sing. Can't wait to see it.....

I dunno.....I haven't seen it but, as both an operatic and musical theatre singer, hearing the "singing" by whoever they got to play the Phantom in the trailer immediately took away most of the excitement I had for this movie. Perhaps they just picked an exceptionally bad excerpt for the trailer, but I just can't bring myself to see this in the theatre now. Maybe if I can find a cheaper matinee performance that I can make it to.

EDIT: I listened to excerpts of the soundtrack at Barnes & Noble today. It confirmed my suspicions.

To echo Secret's thoughts - I'm also a vocal performance major and huge fan of musical theatre. I've been listening to Phantom for years, and I was very psyched when I first heard about the project. However, I wish they would have chosen to cast actual singers in the production, at least for Phantom and Christine, rather than the actors they chose. Granted, I've only heard bits of the music from the movie, but what I've heard was quite disappointing. I'll see it eventually, but likely not in the theatre. It's too bad though, it could have been a great movie if they had used real singers.

Well, being deaf, I loved that they were singing songs I love, and that the actors looked like they were really trying to fill their roles well. I had a great time watching it, and left with the songs on my lips. I can't really comment on the quality of the singing though.

I haven't seen it yet. But I plan to soon. I love the classics. and I'm a big fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber.

I saw it tonight. It was rousing.

I thought the casting for the Phantom could have been better at first... But he really picked up his performance in Act 2 of the movie.

All in all, I loved it.. Makes me want to see the broadway again.

sounds interesting. i think i'm going to go out and watch it. my friends keep telling me it's a good movie, and that i have to watch it.

That was pretty much the story with Evita too. I liked it a lot but people I talked to that aren't in to musicals hated it.

This post made me laugh :)

Neat little film. In some spots, the movie was just dry. However, it was a decent movie. 7/10

I'm just not a musical movie person, but I'll probably see the movie at some point in my life for better or worse.

I didn't understand, the movie had way too much singing..

J/K

I liked it, it had really cool special effects and stuff and the acting wasn't too shabby