Of all of the friends in our little social circle, my wife and I were the only ones who were excited about the prospect of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s “Phantom of the Opera” being presented on the big screen. My wife for her love of this particular musical, and I for my love of musicals in general. Any chance I get, you’ll find me sitting in a darkened theatre waiting for a live production to begin. Movies are great, but there’s just something about live theatre. Of course, this is why there are so few successful translations from the stage to screen, with even less coming from the world of musical theatre. After nearly a decade spent in pre-production, “Phantom of the Opera” finally found its way to theatre screens last year, under the direction of Joel Schumacher. My wife and I went opening weekend, curious as to how Schumacher’s approach would affect the translation of the show. Schumacher has had his share of hits and misses, but somehow he seemed like just the right person to direct this extremely colorful event musical.

The opening scene of the film, which re-creates the auction from the theatrical production introduces us to the famed chandelier, which, when you see it live, rises majestically from the stage and settles above the heads of the audience as time rewinds before your eyes to reveal the Opera House in its early splendor. These opening moments from the film offer a spectacular visual feast as the 2-dimensional chandelier rises and brings the Opera House to life. Dust flies away from fixtures, color is restored and flames leap from stage candles… all to the opening strains of Weber’s score. It’s a magical moment, and one that brought goose bumps to our arms as we watched. If only the rest of the film had been so magical.

“Phantom of the Opera”, from start to finish, is a lavish and near perfect screen version of the original musical and there lies the dichotomy. Where it succeeds is in its visual attention to detail and power of the actors to deliver what dialogue there is in the show (as an operetta, almost every line is sung) believably. The sets are incredibly beautiful, and the camera whirls about like a dervish making sure we drink up every detail. But these same strengths also often serve as the film’s weaknesses. The sets at times seem like almost too much visually, distracting from the story at hand. And the acting is extremely broad… as it should be when performed on the stage in order to reach the audiences ‘in the rafters’ as it were. When you take the same acting style and transfer it to the screen (where subtlety is king), it comes across as somewhat cartoonish.

There was also another problem, which is actually inherent to the original musical and not something new to this version. It is our two lead characters, Christine (Emmy Rossum) and The Phantom (Gerard Butler). While they are written in way that would appeal to a lot of (live) theatre goers, onscreen they are almost unbearable. Christine is the young ingénue whom the Phantom loves obsessively. It is only she who can perform his compositions… only she who can make his lonely life complete. However, Christine has always seemed to be no more than an air-headed teenager, unable to recognize what is real from what is fantasy, and forget trying to make a decision on her own. The Phantom, on the other hand is a power hungry and obsessive soul who feels the world owes him anything he wants. His desire for Christine doesn’t just border on insanity, it is completely insane. He is a murderous, brutish madman, yet Weber’s version romanticizes him. We are made to feel sorry for him because he can sing, is very lonely, has a deformed face (which here amounts to little more than some scars), yet has an air of aristocracy about him. We feel sorry for him becomes he loves Christine so deeply, yet if this same guy was loose in Flower Mound, Texas, he’d be branded a spousal abuser in the Dallas Morning News in a week. Again, this somehow works on stage, but onscreen it just doesn’t carry.

Two other minor problems I have with the film is the casting of Minnie Driver as Carlotta, the Opera Diva whom Christine is to replace. Normally I love Driver, but she just seems miscast, both in age and accent. She does a fairly good job, but doesn’t quite hit the right mark. The other little nit involves a quick scene where the reviled Carlotta returns to the Opera House. As she strolls through the stage area, she is jeered by the workers, one of whom moons her from the rafters. Now… here’s my problem with the scene. Even with its faults, the film version of “Phantom of the Opera” offers a great way to introduce children to the world of musical theater. While I would love to let my kids see the film and enjoy the music, I really don’t want them to see some guys butt blazoned across our big screen TV. (Call me a prude… but it also just takes what should be a classy production and lowers it).

That said, I would like to point out that there is a lot that DOES work in the film and so watching it is on no way a total loss. The music is still magnificent, and while Gerard Butler is no Michael Crawford, he does a fairly good singing job. And Emmy Rossum blows Sarah Brightman out of the water. (These comments will probably only make sense to fans of the stage production…)

Warner Brothers is releasing 3 versions of the film on DVD. The first 2 are single disc releases offering either a Widescreen or Full Screen of the film (we have the Widescreen, of course…). The 3rd is a 2-disc set chock full of special features. Unfortunately we did not receive that one to review, so I cannot comment on the content of the extras, though I’m sure they are quite good.

Starring: Gerard Butler, Emmy Rossum, Patrick Wilson, Miranda Richardson, Minnie Driver
Extras: (On the single disc version) None
Specifications: Widescreen
Studio: Warner Brothers
Release Date: 5/3/2005
Region 1
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (For Brief Violent Images)
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We'll give an Phantom of the Opera a C.