The film version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera is haunted by its theatrical roots.
Though much of the film is lavish and stunning, director Joel Schumacher hasn't found a way to make it completely cinematic.
At times it feels as if we're watching a taping of a live stage performance, and what works so wonderfully on stage doesn't have the same impact on screen.
One of the highlights of a stage version of Phantom occurs when the opera ghost takes his young protege Christine down the underground river to his lair.
It's mesmerizing in a theatre to watch the fog swirl and candelabra fully lit rise from the floor.
When it happens in the film you wonder how those candles remain lit while submerged.
Little things like that prove jarring but that's the least of Schumacher's problems.
He was determined to cast a young actress in the role of Christine Daae, the girl in the opera chorus who becomes the obsession of the phantom (Gerard Butler).
Emmy Rossum was 17 when she filmed Phantom and looks spectacularly radiant in Alexandra Byrne's sumptuous costumes.
The problem is, Schumacher doesn't allow Rossum to act like an adolescent on the verge of womanhood.
There is so little youthful exuberance in the performance, Schumacher might as well have cast an older actress.
Then there's the problem of Patrick Wilson's Raoul, Christine's childhood friend who becomes her new suitor.
If Christine is meant to be 17, then Raoul needs to be 20 at the very most, but Wilson is obviously in his 30s.
Wilson is a great swordsman and has a strong, mellow voice but he never comes off as a wide-eyed innocent.
Butler's Phantom is dark and sexy but he is never menacing enough to be the monster of Christine's dreams. This is a classic Beauty and the Beast story, but when Christine finally rips away the phantom's mask you wonder what the fuss was all about.
His face is not nearly nightmarish enough.
The film also emphasizes that, at its heart, Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera is just a little chamber musical.
Most of the story is about two people singing to each other.
Christine sings to Raoul or the phantom, and they sing back.
The grand ball and the opera excerpts now seem far more imposed and less spectacular than they did on stage.
Schumacher has added a graveyard scene and a duel that is impressive.
The Phantom of the Opera bursts into glorious life once the opera ghost decides to kidnap Christine and take her to his lair forever.
With Raoul and the police in hot pursuit, the film has incredible energy and the music soars to breathtaking heights.
Those final 40 minutes of The Phantom of the Opera are what movie musicals are meant to do. The movie will work best for people who have not seen the stage play because it is a beautiful story told through stirring music.
(This film is rated PG>)
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