If you loved the show, you'll likely love the movie; if you detest the show, you'll hate the movie. Personally, I fall closer to the middle.
Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera (2004)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:163
Fresh:54
Rotten:109
Average Rating:5/10
Consensus: The music of the night has hit something of a sour note: Critics are calling the screen adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s popular musical histrionic, boring, and lacking in both romance and danger. Still, some have praised the film for its sheer spectacle.
Rated: 12A [See Full Rating] for brief violent images
Runtime: 2 hrs 23 mins
Genre: Musical & Performing Arts
Theatrical Release:10-12-2004
Synopsis: Those who thought that smoke machines and cobwebbed candelabras were the stuff of Halloween parties and dance clubs need to think again. In Joel Schumacher's film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd... Those who thought that smoke machines and cobwebbed candelabras were the stuff of Halloween parties and dance clubs need to think again. In Joel Schumacher's film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Broadway musical THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, these moody set devices--and countless others--make every scene an atmospheric vision of souped-up 19th-century Gothic bliss. Christine Daee (a luminescent Emmy Rossum) is a tortured young star who is haunted by the voice of the phantom (Gerard Butler--who also played the lead in DRACULA 2000), a musician who hides in the shadows to hide a facial disfigurement, yet sings to her obsessively. Dwelling in the dark, damp chambers beneath the Paris opera house, the phantom lords over the cast and management with artistic autocracy--he writes the shows, casts them, and threatens all who disobey his plans with dramatically violent outbursts. But when his young student Christine falls for the rich and dapper Raoul (Patrick Wilson), the phantom descends into madness. Webber's memorable songs are performed with aplomb by Rossum, whose background includes singing with the Metropolitan Opera, and Wilson and Butler provide ample accompaniment. One of the treats of the proceedings is Minnie Driver's deeply exaggerated portrayal of the jealous diva, giving this PHANTOM a very appropriate dose of comic relief. [More]
Starring: Gerard Butler, Emmy Rossum, Minnie Driver, Patrick Wilson
Starring: Gerard Butler, Emmy Rossum, Minnie Driver, Patrick Wilson, Miranda Richardson
Director: Joel Schumacher
Director: Joel Schumacher
Screenwriter: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Joel Schumacher
Producer: Andrew Lloyd Webber
Composer: Andrew Lloyd Webber
Studio: Warner Bros.
Reviews for Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera
A flamboyant failure, unwilling and/or unable to open itself up to anyone who wasn't totally in love with the show already.
On paper, the teaming looks solid gold, yet the film is an experience that results in more yawns than goosebumps.
One of the worst filmed musicals I’ve ever seen, and that includes Cop Rock
While The Phantom of the Opera is not the greatest movie I have seen this year, it certainly deserves a chance. It's a decent, sometimes breathtaking film.
The songs generally suffer on the screen, with only the Phantom's organ-driven theme and the sexual frenzy of the climatic 'Past the Point of No Return' having any real energy
Much like his adaptations of The Client and the French film Cousin, Cousine, Schumacher is able to fully embrace the spectacle of the source material.
The screen version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical lacks both authentic romance and the thrill of memorable spectacle.
Emmy Rossum’s ethereal beauty and spectacular singing voice are a perfect fit for the role of Christine.
It's questionable whether fans of the musical will be enamored with this adaptation. The energy that characterizes a live performance is absent, resulting in a production that often feels sluggish and slow-moving.
The story has an intrinsic appeal, part nostalgic valentine and part root-for-the-underdog thriller. For all the film's missteps, it remains watchable.
Though admirably anti-MTV, Schumacher's film is often so baroque, it comes off like some joke.
It's an inviting playground for repressed desire of an enduring favorite in pulp fiction to explode anew.
For some of us, the phenomenal popularity of Phantom remains the greatest mystery of all, one left unsolved by this interminable screen spectacle.
On its own terms, the film is just about perfect. Viewers who accept it on those terms will be swept away.
A stylish, emotionally rich and supremely satisfying adaptation of Webber's musical that successfully transitions it to film while also deepening its dramatic core.
Its close-ups of belted numbers command attention without truly commanding our hearts.
Butler doesn't have the necessary screen presence, and without a good Phantom, the movie fails to capture the imagination.
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