Phantom of the Opera

One of my favorite movies is Phantom of the Opera. I know it didn't get great reviews, but I don't care. Nothing that is a huge phenomenon ever gets good reviews when turned into a movie. (DaVinci Code anyone?) I thought they did a good job considering. And it's a way that I can watch the Phantom of the Opera over and over again. I've seen the play once, my junior year of high school and I fell instantly in love. My dream is to see it again. I obviously didn't remember a ton of it 8 years later, and I think that helped my feelings towards the movie. My sister-in-law had just seen the play for the first time a few weeks before she saw the movie and hated it (the movie).

Here's why I love it, besides the reasons I stated above. For one, the set designs and costumes are amazing. They are so extravagant they are almost over-the-top and I love it. It's like a dream world. Secondly, all the actors are really singing (with the exception of Minnie Driver) and that made a big difference to me. I didn't find this out til after the first time I saw it, so the second time I saw it I liked it way more. Thirdly, can I just say Gerard Butler? Yummy yum yum. He rocketed to the top of my "Hot Actors" list as the Phantom. Yes, his face is either half covered up or horribly disfigured during the entire movie, but that's how hot he is....he can be like that and still be hot. And have you seen him in real life, not masked or disfigured? Me-ow.

And of course, the movie used the original soundtrack by Andrew Lloyd Webber which I grew up listening to long before I ever saw the play. Even before I knew the storyline I had the songs memorized and imagined what was going on in the play during each song. They did take some artistic liberties with a few of the songs that didn't settle right with me (for some reason, they felt they needed to turn the song "Phantom of the Opera" into something that sounded like Santana was playing back-up for) but for the most part it was all close enough.

I'm not even going to go into the storyline because I seriously doubt there is anyone out there who has no idea what the Phantom of the Opera is about. If you don't, find out. You'll be hooked.