The Phantom of the Opera (2004)

Artwork for Theatrical Release

Joel Schumacher...Joel Schumacher.  This much I can say, Andrew Lloyd Webber was correct in the fact that Joel Schumacher knows film music, the rest no one can account for.

The film is inexplicably enjoyable, and watching a very young Emmy Rossum (16 years old at time of shooting) is an incredible surprise, voice and all.

The camerawork is oft uninspired.  The lighting is lacking a bit of depth.  The color-timing is sometimes ill-fit.  And the CGI is bad, often in shots that did not necessarily warrant it.

I feel like Schumacher reached for something similar to Josef von Sternberg's The Scarlet Empress (1934), but comes across as simply garish and horribly campy.

Having said that, the music is phenomenal and some of the scenes are just spectacular.  Two of these in particular, the masquerade ball and the first cemetery scene make the whole film worth it.

I sadly expect anything with this pedigree to be a classic, but this film falls short of that, but is no less enjoyable.  Rent it, or watch it On Demand like I did, unless you have a particular interest in Emmy Rossum and her phenomenal pipes (read: nothing dirty).