Phantom of the Opera film. Just saw it... yikes...

I've seen the movie. Twice. And no it isn't out yet. We held the Canadian premiere of the film at my work- The Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre. Colm Wilkinson was there (the original Phantom in T.O. and Gerard Butler- the film Phantom- was there, too.) Big whoop. It was a fun event but the film disappointed me overall. I went in hoping to love it, you know? After all, PotO was the first musical I had ever seen, and to this day it can actually be a wonderful piece of theatre- when done properly, of course.

My biggest let down was the fact that the cast couldn't sing. I mean Emmy Rossum (Christine) was really airy and I was expecting her voice to blow me away. And don't get me started on the Phantom... In a word, terrible. His accent makes him sound like he has a speech impediment. Clearly not trained as a singer at all and the quality of his voice really made me grown in my seat. SEVERAL TIMES! He really needs to learn how to sing vowels properly and hello, those straight tones and that damned falsetto voice isn't impressing anyone. At least not anyone that knows what they are talking about. The biggest surprise was with Minnie Driver. Wow, who knew she was a legit soprano!? Unfortunately, most the remaining supporting cast couldn't sing much, either. That is, with the exception of Patrick Wilson- in fact I thought he gave the strongest performance in the film.

The art direction (sets) is incredible. The costumes are even better. And I absolutely loved the "Masquerade" sequence. It was the finest part of the film. Sadly everything else was a let down. The direction of the film (ala Joel Schumacher) was inconsistent at best. In fact the man should be shot for the talentless phoney he is. He should go back to his original profession. Oh lord, and the editing is terrible. So much so, that certain scenes come off as cheesey at best.

What can I say... I wanted to love it. It is my favourite Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. Still, this falls on its scarred face over and over again.

Anyone see it yet?

--M--

Updated On: 12/19/04 at 12:18 AM