I went and saw the Phantom of the Opera movie this weekend, and I was only half impressed. It wasn't spectacular, but at least it remained mostly faithful to the musical.
Some points about the film:
- The entire beginning credits (which were really short) happened at the beginning of the film. The film starts off with an auction in black and white. After the auction when the chandelier is raised again, they start playing the theme music and the run-down opera house comes back to life and turns to color, as the movie goes into the past. This part was really awesome and the credits should have been placed during this part instead...it would have looked a lot better.
- The chandelier didn't fall, at least not in the same time as in the musical. It falls later on in the movie, after the mascarade ball. In a way, this is actually an improvement. The fall of the chandelier fits better in the story.
- The actor who played the Phantom seemed like a good choice, but the guy who sang the musical parts had a too-high voice for my taste. This means that most of the singing was done by people other than the actors. Also, the woman who played Christine had a huge mouth, she could take a cucumber with that maw!
- The singing drove me nuts! Yea, I know it's a musical, but there were times when they were trying to convey important information, but they were singing it and it was hard to make out what they were saying (especially if multiple people were singing at the same time).
- The phantom was missing his staff with the skull on the top. This staff could shoot flame out of it. Pity, it made him look cooler. That's another thing, the Phantom seemed more human in the movie. Of course, this makes you feel more sorry for him, but I like the way the musical makes him seem like a supernatural being.
It was a pretty good adaptation, but there were some parts that bugged me, most of them differences between the musical and the movie. I shouldn't be suprised, it's an adaptation, and it's Joel Shumacher directing. I should be thankful aliens didn't take over the world in the middle of the movie, and Will Smith and Godzilla didn't start fighting them.
