Minnie Driver Movie:

		List Price: $28.99		Label: Warner Home Video Salesrank: 21504 Released: April 18, 2006
		Our Price: $7.20
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		MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Media: HD DVD

Editorial Review:
Musical Drama based on Andrew Lloyd Webber's celebrated musical phenomenon. The Phantom of the Opera tells the story of a disfigured musical genius (Gerard Butler) who haunts the catacombs beneath the Paris Opera, waging a reign of terror over its occupants. When he falls fatally in love with the lovely Christine (Emmy Rossum), the Phantom devotes himself to creating a new star for the Opera, exerting a strange sense of control over the young soprano as he nurtures her extraordinary talents.

Description of The Phantom of the Opera [HD DVD]:
Although it's not as bold as Oscar darling Chicago, The Phantom of the Opera continues the resuscitation of the movie musical with a faithful adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's blockbuster stage musical. Emmy Rossum glows in a breakout role as opera ingénue Christine Daae, and if phantom Gerard Butler isn't Rossum's match vocally, he does convey menace and sensuality in such numbers as "The Music of the Night." The most experienced musical theater veteran in the cast, romantic lead Patrick Wilson, sings sweetly but seems wooden. The biggest name in the cast, Minnie Driver, hams it up as diva Carlotta, and she's the only principal whose voice was dubbed (though she does sing the closing-credit number, "Learn to Be Lonely," which is also the only new song).

Director Joel Schumacher, no stranger to visual spectacle, seems to have found a good match in Lloyd Webber's larger-than-life vision of Gaston LeRoux's Gothic horror-romance. His weakness is cuing too many audience-reaction shots and showing too much of the lurking Phantom, but when he calms down and lets Rossum sings "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" alone in a silent graveyard, it's exquisite.

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Those who consider the stage musical shallow and overblown probably won't have their minds changed by the movie, and devotees will forever rue that the movie took the better part of two decades to develop, which prevented the casting of original principals Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman. Still, The Phantom of the Opera is a welcome exception to the long line of ill-conceived Broadway-to-movie travesties.

DVD Features
The special edition of The Phantom of the Opera has two major extras. "Behind the Mask: The Story of The Phantom of the Opera" is an hourlong documentary tracing the genesis of the stage show, with interviews of composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, director Harold Prince, producer Cameron Macintosh, lyricists Richard Stilgoe and Charles Hart, choreographer Gillian Lynne, and others. Conspicuously absent are stars Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford. Both do appear in video clips, including Brightman performing with Colm Wilkinson at an early workshop, and Crawford is the subject of a casting segment. Other brief scenes from the show are represented by a 2001 production. The other major feature is the 45-minute making-of focusing on the movie, including casting and the selection of director Joel Schumacher Both are well-done productions by Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group.

The deleted scene is a new song written by Lloyd Webber and Charles Hart, "No One Would Listen," sung by the Phantom toward the end of the movie. It's a beautiful song that, along with Madame Giry's story, makes him a more sympathetic character. But because that bit of backstory already slowed down the ending, it was probably a good move to cut the song. --David Horiuchi

More on The Phantom of the Opera

The Phantom of the Opera (Special Extended Edition Soundtrack) (CD)	The Phantom of the Opera (2004 Movie Soundtrack) (CD)	The Phantom of the Opera (Original 1986 London Cast) (CD)
Evita (DVD)	Andrew Lloyd Weber: The Royal Albert Hall Celebration (DVD)	More Broadway DVDs

The Phantom of the Opera [HD DVD] Reviews:
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2009-11-28 - Just another boring piece of jew-produced trash. Every single thing these people touch they destroy. Good thing I only rented this.
Joel "Schumacher" really should change his last name because he hasn't a clue about German. Get lost and take your filthy cast with you.

Excellent film version of a great Broadway Play
2009-11-20 - I was cynical when I followed a friends strong advice to see "Phantom" on Broadway.
TTurns out; this is one of the best events I've ever witnessed!
I brought my family including my college age kids best friends.
We saw Howard McGillam as the Phantom. He was incredibly powerfull!
I was so moved I then brought my parents.
The play was even better on the second take.
I've recently read the book, and have seen the movie once.
The movie is excellent!
The play is excellent, also!
It's obvious that the movie scipt has more depth than play.
I'd recommend that anybody buy this movie, see the play, and read the book.
The most talented composers, screenwriters and author of the last century bring to us an unbelievably wonderful work of art.
See the movie, go to the play, read the book!

Seeing the play on Broadway is like one of 7 greatest things you can do!
The Majestic Theater was remodeled in 1985 just for this production.



The Phantom rocks!
2009-11-08 - Gerald Butler's performance is excellent and the score music was great sound. The video quality on Blue-ray is outstanding.

Phantom DVD
2009-11-03 - I enjoyed this DVD purchase. Shiping was quick and product was in excellent condition. I have never had any problems with any vendors I've used through Amazon. Always a pleasure ordering from you.
Thanks

Visually stunning adaptation of the old literary warhorse
2009-10-28 - THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

(UK/USA - 2004 - color & sepia)

Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (Panavision)
Theatrical soundtracks: Dolby Digital / DTS / SDDS

France, 1870: The Paris Opera House is haunted by a mysterious figure (Gerard Butler) who tutors a young opera ingénue (Emmy Rossum) and becomes enraged when she falls in love with a handsome nobleman (Patrick Wilson).

Joel Schumacher's long-planned adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's ultra-successful stage musical opens with the greatest set-piece of this director's career: A spine-tingling shift from grainy monochrome to saturated color as the timeframe switches from 1919 to 1870, restoring the dilapidated Opera House to its former glory in a swirl of visual effects trickery. It's a powerful moment, one which encapsulates the very essence of this venerable cinematic warhorse. What follows is every bit as sumptuous as the stage show, with a younger cast in familiar roles: Newcomer Rossum is an angelic Christine, beautiful and talented in equal measure, while Wilson shines as her lovestruck admirer, whose dalliance with Christine invites the Phantom's wrath, played with strength and conviction by Butler. Simon Callow and Ciarán Hinds provide comic relief as the Opera's new owners, and there's strong support from Miranda Richardson (the Opera's ballet mistress, bound to the Phantom by more than mere coincidence), Minnie Driver (generously eccentric as the obstinate diva whose monstrous ego and limited talent prove to be her undoing), and veteran Murray Melvin as the frazzled orchestra conductor (a sublime, near-wordless performance).

The film is a spectacle in all senses of the word, designed and photographed to glorious cinematic excess. Webber and Schumacher financed the production independently, so the finished product is true to their respective vision, but while the results are a feast for the senses, it's also compromised in unusual ways: Except for the chandelier sequence and an earlier scene in which the Phantom murders a nosy stagehand (Kevin McNally), Schumacher de-emphasizes the horrific elements of Gaston Leroux's original novel in favor of Gothic visuals (note the Cocteau homage during Christine's first visit to the Phantom's subterranean lair), and he's too quick to reveal the Phantom as a flesh-and-blood creature without any supernatural trappings, which undermines his potency. Those unfamiliar with the stage show may also bristle at the amount of dialogue which is SUNG rather than spoken, draining several crucial scenes of their dramatic urgency, especially during the film's final stretch, though the climactic pay-off is genuinely heartfelt. Romantic, resplendent, defiantly old-fashioned, this 'Phantom' overcomes its minor obstacles to emerge as a triumph in every department.