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Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera (2004)
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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: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for brief violent images
Runtime: 2 hrs 23 mins
Genre: Musical & Performing Arts
Theatrical Release:Dec 22, 2004 Limited
Box Office: $51,193,556
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.
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Reviews for Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera
The screen version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical lacks both authentic romance and the thrill of memorable spectacle.
My own reaction to the current version fashioned by Mr. Schumacher is one of pure stupefaction.
'The Phantom of the Opera', though terrific, remains appealing only for fans of Andrew Lloyd Webber's ostentatious opera.**
The plot is impressively free of anything that does not smell of unpasteurized melodrama.
Butler doesn't have the necessary screen presence, and without a good Phantom, the movie fails to capture the imagination.
... The transfer from stage to screen is a disappointment; a musical elephant stomping around ... bellowing and trumpeting instead of making sublime music of the night.
Though admirably anti-MTV, Schumacher's film is often so baroque, it comes off like some joke.
It’s just a trip down memory lane, someone recounting a story for which you hold much more vivid and beloved memories yourself.
On paper, the teaming looks solid gold, yet the film is an experience that results in more yawns than goosebumps.
Whatever the reasons for its mediocrity, this version of The Phantom Of The Opera is a clunker despite the effort that went into it, and for all the iconic history of the story.
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