A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: Phantom of the Opera (2004)

Date Viewed: 12/30/04

Details:

Gerard Butler (The Phantom)

Emmy Rossum (Christine Daae)

Patrick Wilson (Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny)

Miranda Richardson (Madame Giry)

Minnie Driver (Carlotta)

Director: Joel Schumacher

Score: Andrew Lloyd Weber

Score: 0

The Review: Uneven and spotty translation from the stage to the screen, this Phantom overstays its welcome. Unnecessary scene and dialog expansion makes this drag its feet where otherwise it was tightly structured. The music, however, is still quintessential Andrew Lloyd Weber.

Production quality was generally high, and the color-coding and transition effects between the main chronology events (in color, 1861) and the more recent, almost-sidebar, threads (in B&W, 1905) were well-done. In particular the opening scene, in the middle of the auction, following the raising of the reconstructed chandelier and the transformation of the opera house into 1861, was very effective and spine-tingling. But one of the most powerful and chilling scenes in the live Broadway production -- the brilliant staging of the descent into the labyrinth ("Phantom of the Opera") -- did not work at all on the big screen.

If one believes the credits, then all the actors (except perhaps Driver) did their own singing. Voice casting was pretty good for Christine (Rossum) and Raoul (Wilson), but more dodgy and a bit rough for the Phantom (Butler), although that's perhaps the intent. Christine's debut aria ("Think of Me") was gorgeous, and as an actress she was well-cast in the role, being alternately waif-like, fragile, alluring and decisive; her voice is not Sarah Brightman's, but she seems better matched physically. Most disappointing was the horrendous lip-synching, even though the actors were but synching their own voices -- it was very noticeable and quite distracting, which perhaps says more about how easily distracted I was during most of the film and less about normally ignored and irrelevant details. Minnie Driver was wasted in the caricature of Carlotta.

I have never been a tremendous fan of the musical as an art form: choral works, opera and operetta, yes, but not the musical. There have been some exceptions -- among them live productions of Les Miserables, Phantom, and Man of La Mancha -- but, alas, this most recent film version of Phantom will not join this list.

(30-Dec-04)

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