Phantom Of The Opera, the movie...HOW BORING...- Page 2

[ruthiefan_felix]

Posted: 10/15/06 at 12:02pm

I thought it was much better than the stage version. Watching it 1st time, it was ok but then the 2nd time, I thought it was just awful! And I can't believe Peter Darling choreographed that horrid dance!... the same guy who choreographed Billy Elliot!

[SweMozArt]

Posted: 10/15/06 at 12:18pm

It might seem strange that Christine has a Swedish father but i think the reason is that the most famous soprano of the 1800s was Jenny Lind from Sweden. There was actually a reclusive genius, resembling the phantom, who was unhappily in love with her, namely the famous danish writer H.C. Andersen (the little mermaid among others). In the novel Christine is blonde but Jenny Lind was actually a brunette in the fasion of Ingrid Bergman Updated On: 10/15/06 at 12:18 PM

[Becky2]

Posted: 10/15/06 at 12:33pm

The character of Christine is not a teenager though, she's in her 20's. And she has to be at least decent in order for the managers to even let her go on stage. I'm not saying that the character playing her has to be the best singer on this earth, but she has to be able to at LEAST sing properly. If someone went on an opera stage and sung like Emmy Rossum did, she'd probably get hissed off the stage. That is, if they could even hear her past the edge of the stage.

[SweMozArt]

Posted: 10/15/06 at 12:41pm

I agree. The ideal would be to have the Jenny Lind of this age morphed with the greta garbo of this age and she should be in her teens (don't think i can find one in Sweden).

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 10/15/06 at 1:53pm

Interesting points re: the scar, Mozart. I see your points.

Also regarding the Phantom and Christine's relationship...again I see your points, but I'm not sure a class is the answer. Did you see the cut song on the DVD? No One Would Listen? The Phantom sings it about Christine...no one would listen till her. I thought it was very well done, and would have served the movie well. More character development, and understanding his love for Christine. They cut it b/c they didn't want the sad, vulnerable side of the Phantom showed until the end.

A fleshing out of their relationship definitely helps the story though, I think. But you run into the problem of them changing the backstory of the Phantom and her. He actually helped build the opera house, and didn't interact with Christine until...3 months I think before the action in the movie starts.

If they stuck to the original story, the backstory provided in Susan Kay's 'Phantom" is excellent (actually the whole book is). He sits in the balcony one night after taunting the last theater owner and Meg encourages Christine to sing for the ghost. He listens, and hears a beautiful voice, but it's so dull and uninspired, and he thinks if only he could teach her...and he's very drawn in by her looks and vulnerability. He ensures she gets moved to the dressing room with the mirror that he built that he could see into the room from, and watches her, knowing it would be wrong to ever communicate. But then one night she storms into the room crying, Carlotta had taunted her about her voice, saying she sounded like a toad. She agreed with Carlotta, and vowed to give up singing. That's when Erik couldn't help himself, and began to sing to her through the mirror, and that was the start of their relationship. Still, until he takes her into the mirror, she only hears him, never sees him.

I guess some people must agree to disagree. I thought Butler's acting in the film was anything but one-dimensional

[SweMozArt]

Posted: 10/15/06 at 2:15pm

That backstory sounds precisely like what the movie would have needed. I i were ALW i would write some tunes and film those scenes for a bonus dvd. Regarding the song "learn to be lonely" i actually thinks its better to have it over the end text. It is more of a descriptive bittersweet soundtrack song than a character song in a musical. It's perfect to have a sort of wise mother figure singing it in the end. To me it's not Carlotta who sings it (she is not the reflective type) but the actress.

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 10/15/06 at 2:29pm

That backstory would contradict the movie, though. In the movie he a) wasn't there to build the opera house, and b) started talking to Christine when she was a little girl. But hey, if someone wants to do away with that story, and tell this one, I'd be all for it. Never will happen though.

And sure, it wouldn't make sense for the Phantom to sing Learn To Be Lonely, but the words were totally different for No One Would Listen...she was the first person to "listen," to give him a chance, etc. It worked fine in that context.

[kec]

Posted: 10/15/06 at 2:29pm

"I hated that he was barely deformed when they got the mask off. The whole theater screams and starts running, when probably nobody past the fifth row could see what was wrong with him."

The audience didn't start running and screaming until the chandelier started its descent after the Phantom cut the rope.

"An interesting thing about the voice though...I admit he's no Boccelli...but, I dunno...I wouldn't call his voice ugly. I think it actually has that pretty, intoxicating sound to it. Like when he starts "Wandering Child" the sound is angelic-like, pretty and hypnotizing. I totally understood her attraction to the voice itself. "

I agree. For someone who had very little prior singing experience, I thought Butler did fine. He wasn't perfect, but he certainly impressed me nonetheless.

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 10/15/06 at 2:32pm

I liked it...

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 10/15/06 at 4:16pm

"I agree. For someone who had very little prior singing experience, I thought Butler did fine. He wasn't perfect, but he certainly impressed me nonetheless. "

I'm glad kec. He worked his ass off on the singing, as well. He was practicing 10 hours a day, every spare moment he had sitting around he would start to sing. Again, there's lots of mixed opinions on the result, but I respect the heart and effort he put into the movie.

[ashley0139]

Posted: 10/15/06 at 5:14pm

I thought the show was god-awfully boring, and I thought the movie was much better than the show. It's so much easier to follow. I've seen the movie over and over but I probably wouldn't see the show again. I really disliked Gerard Butler in the movie. But I blame the casting for that. Who casts someone who has had no prior singing experience? I'm not doubting that he worked hard- I'm sure he did, I just don't like him in the role. Emmy was fine. I like her voice a million times more than Sarah Brightman's. My favorite actor in the movie was Miranda Richardson as Madame Giry. Small part, but she packed a punch with it to stand out, for me. Everything she did was so calculated and brilliant. I love watching the movie to see her scenes.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 10/15/06 at 5:22pm

SweMozArt: No, Christine was based off of Christina Nilsson, a Swedish coloratura soprano.

Anyway, I hate the Phantom stage show but I was longing for it during the movie. It was even less accurate to Leroux than the musical (I admit that I am a Leroux purist) and pretty much all of the singers sucked. Not to mention moving the time period to when there would have been the communard thing going on... uhh, yeah, that was smart. And Gerik was just so emo and unsympathetic; with his minor facial problem all you could think was "Oh boo friggin' hoo."

Emmy Rossum sucked both singing and acting wise. She didn't change facial expressions once throughout the entire movie.

[SweMozArt]

Posted: 10/15/06 at 6:26pm

Oops, thanks for the info! You can never trust Wikipedia 100% but it says that although it is not verified, many people believe that Laroux based his novel on Kristinas life. She had an opera career in France, she married a french count and she signed her letters Christine while living in France, so there are a lot of matches. However the Character of Christine is born in the same landscape of Sweden as Jenny Lind (Uppland), while Kristina Nilsson is born in Småland so perhaps the character is a hybrid?