POTO Movie Review — Page 2

i'm a fan of the music and the play, but i did not like the cast in the movie at all. this is a show that must have strong voices to work, and the singing in the movie is much too weak. not only could gerard not sing the part, but his phantom totally lacked the mystery and madness necessary. and he was much too young. there were times when i literally cringed at rossum's singing, and she basically had one expression through the whole movie. when the crowd went wild over her debut performance, i couldn't help laughing. the actor who played raoul looked like he just stepped off a soap opera set. driver shamefully overacted. richardson's accent was totally out of place. the "choreography" was nothing more than a bunch of silly hand movements.

i DID like the way the beginning of the movie was done in black and white, with the wonderful transition to color that brought the opera house back to life. i also like the way the movie ended at the cemetery. it was all that "singing" in the middle that i didn't like.

---

Pardon me for doing this in a rush -but I have no time. I haven't read this thread - I'm only posting in a hurry.
Joey and I had a flight delay on our trip to Florida and we had to rebook the trip for the next day (today) so since we had an afternoon to kill - we decided to see POTO.
OY. While it is visually Stunning, I think its just a terrible show. The only performances worth mentioning at all are Miranda Richardson and Minnie Driver. I have never been a fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber's work, and I was reminded why, yesterday upon seeing this movie. The lyrics to this show are just dreadful. The story is convoluted and the worst thing about the show in general is that there is too much of a mix of styles going on to make any sense of. The woman who dubbed Minnie Driver has a traditional Operatic Soprano voice. Everyone else in the movie sings in the pop style in which it was written. Emily Rossum's voice is thin and "reedy" and not at all what you'd expect from an Opera singer. If we are expected to take this show seriously, then her voice should be much better than Carlotta's and - that just isn't happening here, so it is very unbelievable. Gerard Butler? Totally miscast. Can't sing, cant act and isn't even sexy. If we're to believe he "mesmerizes" her with his sensuality and charm - then it didn't work for me. Patric Wilson is bland as hell in this role and his voice is just so-so, not very good at all for the male star of a musical. Sure he can carry a tune, but there are millions of men in this business who can sing circles around him. Why was he cast?
Miranda Richardson is definitely the best thing about this film - it appears (from having read the credits) that she is singing in her own voice (meaning, not dubbed by someone else) and it completely works for her character. Her accent is the only believable one in the show (are we to believe that Raul is American? he has NO accent at all - ridiculous). Minnie Driver has some wonderful comic moments and though she's WAY over the top, it somehow works - at least she kept my attention, which is more than I can say for the rest of the boring cast. The Visuals are phenomenal, the effects grand (but, I must say - whats with the "living candelabra"? what the hell is that? and how do lit candles pop up out of the water in the boat sequences? On stage - its a great affect and we understand it because it's Musical Theatre...but in a movie - it makes no sense at all to add those touches of "theatricality" because they just don't work at all.
Give me Yeston and Kopit's Phantom any day over Lloyd Webber's tired and boring version of the famous tale.
And there's my opinion, for what its worth.

---

Something is super wrong with the site right now... People keep coming up with Namo's signature and picture. It's happened so many times tonight!

---

Joel Siegal just gave it a very good review on good morning america! He said he was not a fan of the show, but ended up loving the movie!