The Phantom of the Movie Theater

So they finally went and did it. I've been waiting for this since 1994 when I first heard the idea of creating a movie version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera.

**Spoiler Alert**
If you don't know the story of Phantom you may not want to read very far as I may mention things that are key to later parts of the story.
**


I got very excited when I saw some of the promotional stuff on the website. I absolutely loved the set design and the costumes, and I knew I already loved the music. I really was happy when I started listing to clips of the actors singing. M. Anrde and M. Firman were very good, Raoul was perfect and Christine was a very suitable follow-on to Sarah Brightman. She had the look and the voice for the most part. The only complaint I had was that she couldn't quite reach the same stratosphere on "The Phantom of the Opera" where he's commanding her to 'Sing for me' and she's going higher and higher and higher. What they did was to transpose the entire song down about a step. Honestly, if you weren't looking for it, you'd likely not even notice.

I was absolutely thrilled at the prospect of the movie, until.... I heard the Phantom himself. With respect to Sir Webber, I think he should have his head examined for choosing Gerard Butler. His lack of any classical voice training is immediately obvious. His voice is akin to a metal/grunge yelling/singing voice rather than the silken chords of Micheal Crawford. From what I've read Sir Webber wanted a rougher, darker and angrier Phantom, but I think it would have behooved him to find one that could SING! There are pleasant moments where I think they must have worked the song take after take after take to get something that is actually not too grating. Music of the Night was fairly passable, but Point of No Return was cringe-worthy.

If you can get past the Phantom I'd say the rest of the movie is worth seeing. Most of the changes I liken to what happens when a show is revived on Broadway. Things are changed, re-written, cut, added etc. Sometimes this is good, sometimes this is bad, but for the most part in the movie version I think many of the changes were positive.

Yes, I know, they moved the Chandelier. I was a bit bother by this but you have to realize that not all aspects of a 2 act stage production translate to the screen smoothly. One of this is the device of having the chandelier fall just prior to the close of Act 1. Movie audiences are used to the climax being toward the end. You can debate whether this was necessary but overall I don't think it really hurts the story too much.

Overall I'd give this movie an 8 out of 10 were it not for the Phantom. Because of that I have to drop it to a 7 out of 10.