Movie Review: The Phantom of the Opera (2004)

Greetings, friends!

There are a ton of musicals out there. I'm usually really picky about them because either I like the songs, but not the story or vise versa. Whenever I ask people to tell me a few of their favorite musicals, one of them is almost always The Phantom of the Opera. It is really famous and I had never seen it until last Tuesday! Here we are onto the review!

My guarantee: On ALL of my reviews there are NO spoilers unless I give you warning.

The Phantom of the Opera (2004):

Based on: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra - by Gaston Leroux. 

When new owners take over the Opera house, strange things begin happening. They receive a note from the Opera Ghost, demanding certain things. After having trouble with the star Carlotta, a young girl named Christine takes the stage. She gets reintroduced to one of her childhood friends, but she is worried because she keeps hearing voices. Whom she thinks is The Angel of Music is actually the Phantom. Is he just lonely, or does he have more sinister plans?

Genre: Musical, Romance.

Length: approx. 140 minutes.

Costumes: 7, okay, so there are some really amazing costumes in here, but quite a few are a little low, or skimpy. There is also a scene where someone isn't wearing a shirt, or pants.

My favorite: Look at that dress!

Script: 8, they are one or two bad words and a name in vain. There isn't really a lot of talking besides the singing.

Crew:

Directed by: Joel Schumacher.

Written by: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Joel Schumacher, Charles Hart, Richard Stilgoe, & Gaston Leroux.

Starring:
Gerald Butler as The Phantom.

Emmy Rossum as Christine Daaé.

Patrick Wilson as Raoul de Chagny.

Is it weird to anyone else that Raoul and I basicly have the same haircut?

Miranda Richardson as Madame Giry.
Minnie Driver as Carlotta Giudicelli. (Margaret Preece as Carlotta's singing voice except for one song.)

Simon Callow as Gilles André.
Ciarán Hinds as Richard Firmin.
Jennifer Ellison as Meg Giry.
Victor McGuire as Ubaldo Piangi.
Murray Melvin as Monsieur Reyer.
Kevin McNally as Joseph Buquet.
James Fleet as Monsieur Lefèvre.
Ramin Karimloo as Gustave Daaé. (This is interesting because he also played The Phantom and Raoul in different stage versions.)

Cinematography: 7, there were some cool things, but there was a lot of potential that they didn't use.

Cinematography by: John Mathieson.

Music: 9, the music is very impressive! I thought that a few of the songs sounded too much like another, but all of the singing was amazing!

Music by: Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Quotes: 7, as I said, there isn't a lot of talking without singing.

Storyline: 6, there is drinking, gruesome things, death, hanging, and some very suggestive things.

Good For: Musical lovers!

Age Range: It is rated PG-13 because of some scary things, but I think it just depends on each person.

Overall Score: 7.5!

Why, of all times I could have watched this did I decide to now? Well, Rebekah Brannan, one of the bloggers at Pure Entertainment Preservation Society (PEPS), is hosting a blogathon in honor of all things about The Phantom of the Opera because it is the 110th anniversary of when the novel first started being a serial in a newspaper! I thought this would be the perfect time to finally watch this to join this party!

I am still trying to decide what I thought of it. I had heard the song "The Music of the Night" before watching (my dad plays it all the time). I was certainly surprised at the story, I thought it was going a completely different way! I definitely want to re-watch it, and see some different versions, so I think that means I liked it.

If you are a "Phan", they would love if you joined!

Thank you so much for reading! Am I the only one who has gone so long without seeing it? What do you think of it? Make sure to check out all of the other entries in the blogathon HERE!

MovieCritic