Phantom of the Opera [Blu-ray]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

One of the most popular stage musicals in the history of Broadway and London's West End makes its long-awaited arrival on the motion-picture screen in this lavish adaptation directed by Joel Schumacher. Christine (Emmy Rossum) is a beautiful and gifted young woman who longs to join the company of the Paris Opera House. During rehearsals for one of the opera's grand productions, a backdrop falls and crashes to the floor, nearly crushing leading lady Carlotta (Minnie Driver). When several members of the company suggest this could be the work of the "Phantom of the Opera," a spectral presence said to haunt the building, Carlotta drops out of the show, and the fates permit Christine to step in as her replacement. Christine's performance is a triumph, and on opening night she becomes reacquainted with Raoul (Patrick Wilson), a former childhood friend who is now a wealthy and well-known nobleman. Christine soon finds herself smitten with the handsome Raoul, but the same evening she makes a startling discovery -- the story of the Phantom is not just a legend. A brilliant but horribly disfigured composer (Gerard Butler) lives deep in the depths of the opera house, and taken with the beauty of Christine's voice, he abducts her and brings her to his lair, where he offers to help her perfect her talents, offering to write an opera especially for her. As the terrified Christine is comforted by Raoul, the two fall in love, but the phantom sees her affection for Raoul as a tremendous betrayal, and the jealous phantom nearly kills Christine as he nearly killed Carlotta. When the phantom emerges to present the opera's management with the piece he has written for Christine, the singer is asked to put her life on the line in an effort to capture the mad genius once and for all. Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical version of Gaston Leroux's novel, which had already enjoyed several stage and screen adaptations in the past, opened in London in 1986 and has been a popular favorite around the world ever since; the show was still running in New York and London when the film version premiered in late 2004. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Number of Discs: 1
• Subtitle: Eng/Fre/Spa
• Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo
• Features:
  • Behind the Mask: The story of the Phantom of the Opera
  • The Making of the Phantom of the Opera in 3 spellbinding acts:
  • Preproduction
  • The director
  • Production
  • No One Would Listen: additional scene
  • Singalong
  • Theatrical trailer

AWARDS

• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

•     Nominated Best Art Direction - 2004 (Celia Bobak, Anthony Pratt)
•     Nominated Best Cinematography - 2004 (John Mathieson)
•     Nominated Best Song - 2004 (Andrew Lloyd Webber, Charles Hart)

• Broadcast Film Critics Association

•     Won Best Young Actress - 2004 (Emmy Rossum)
•     Nominated Best Picture - 2004

• Hollywood Foreign Press Association

•     Nominated Best Original Song - 2004 (Andrew Lloyd Webber, Charles Hart)
•     Nominated Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Com - 2004 (Emmy Rossum)
•     Nominated Best Picture - Musical or Comedy - 2004

• National Board of Review

•     Won Breakthrough Performance - Female - 2004 (Emmy Rossum)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Gerard Butler - The Phantom
       Emmy Rossum - Christine Daae
       Patrick Wilson - Vicomte Raoul de Chagny
       Miranda Richardson - Madame Giry
       Minnie Driver - La Carlotta
       Simon Callow - Gilles Andre
       Ciaran Hinds - Richard Firmin
       Jennifer Ellison - Meg Giry
       James Fleet - Lefevre
       Victor McGuire - Piangi
       Kevin McNally - Buquet
       Murray Melvin - Reyer
       Paul Brooke - Auctioneer
       Laura Hounsom - Young Mme. Giry
       Chris Overton - Young Phantom
       Imogen Bain - Carlotta's Maid
       Miles Western - Carlotta's Wigmaker
       Judith Paris - Carlotta's Seamstress
       Halcro Johnston - Passirino
       Oliver Chopping - Porter
       Alison Skilbeck - Nun/Nurse
       Lee Sellers - Chauffer
       Ramin Karimloo - Christine's Father
       Annabel Porter - Young Meg
       Max Thomas
       Aaron Sillis - Masquerade Dancer

• Director:

  Joel Schumacher

• Producer:

  Andrew Lloyd Webber

• Book Author:

  Gaston Leroux

• Play Author:

  Andrew Lloyd Webber

• Screenwriter:

  Andrew Lloyd Webber, Joel Schumacher

• Cinematographer:

  John Mathieson, Nigel Stone

• Composer (Music Score):

  Andrew Lloyd Webber

• From Musical by:

  Andrew Lloyd Webber, Charles Hart, Richard Stilgoe

• Musical Direction/Supervision:

  Nigel Wright

• Editor:

  Terry Rawlings

• Production Designer:

  Anthony Pratt, Terry Rawlings

• Art Director:

  Paul Kirby

• Supervising Art Director:

  John Fenner

• Executive Producer:

  Antony Hunt, Austin Shaw, Eli Richbourg, Jeff Abberley, Julia Blackman, Keith Cousins, Louise Goodsill, Paul Hitchcock, Ralph Kamp

• Costume Designer:

  Alexandra Byrne

• Set Decorator:

  Celia Bobak

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer, Tony Dawe

• Makeup:

  Jenny Shircore

• Special Effects:

  Cinesite

• First Assistant Director:

  David Pearson, Tommy Gormley

• Choreography:

  Peter Darling

• Casting:

  David Grindrod

• Animal Trainer/Wrangler:

  Debbie Kaye

• Assistant Visual Effects Editor:

  Zach Justman

• Color Timing:

  John Stanborough

• Compositor:

  Claas Henke, Glen Bennett, Jo Ken, Mark P. Renton, Mike Poterfield, Simon Cassels, Steve Muangman

• Conductor:

  Nigel Wright

• Construction Department:

  Christine Greenwood, Danny Webster, Gary Gleeson, Geoff Newton, Kathryn Prince, Ken Barley, Michael Gardiner, Paul King, Rob Weller, Sean Hedges-Quinn, Steve Adamson, Vicky Ball

• Craft Service/Catering:

  Crew Catering LTD, Sophie Aitken, Vince Jordan

• Electrician:

  Garry Hedges, Les McGee, Peter Joslin, Robert O'Brien, Vincent Clarke

• Foley Artist:

  Jennie Lee-Wright, Pauline Griffiths

• Foley Mixer:

  Edward Colyer

• Foley Recordist:

  David Tyler

• Gaffer:

  John Rogers

• Grip:

  Panavision Grips

• Hair Styles:

  Jenny Shircore

• Lighting:

  Zachery Tucker

• Matte Artist:

  Tim Clark

• Motion Control Camera:

  Digna Nigoumi, Malcolm Wooldridge, The VFX Company Limited

• Negative Cutter:

  Professional Negative Cutting Limited

• Production Accountant:

  Jen Hutchinson

• Production Assistant:

  Ryan Meredith

• Production Controller:

  Alexandra Coxon

• Production Coordinator:

  Alexandra Coxon

• Prosthetic Makeup Effects:

  Animated Extras Intl., Michael Smith

• Set Medic/First Aid:

  Promed Medical Support Services

• Stunts Coordinator:

  Greg Powell

• Title Design:

  Asylum Visual Effects, Justin Blampied

• Visual Effects Editor:

  Kosta Saric

• Visual Effects Producer:

  Jamie Stevenson

• Visual Effects Supervisor:

  David M.V. Jones, Nathan McGuinness, Peter Hutchinson

• Voice Casting:

  Brendan Donnison

REVIEW:

• Again proving himself game for any genre, Joel Schumacher takes the helm of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, a musical whose long delay to the screen represents a rare failure of Hollywood to strike when the iron is hot. No doubt thinking it could be his Chicago, Schumacher was probably as surprised as anyone to see his grandiose production shut out of the major Oscar categories. The film is an incredibly faithful rendering of the popular show. But with Webber's fingerprints all over it, it's never precisely more than that, and that's what separates it from Chicago. Coming only two years on the heels of that film, there's an unjust tendency to judge Phantom according to Chicago's success, and true enough, it doesn't measure up to either that or the stage phenomenon that inspired it. One real difference from the stage: it's unavoidable that the phantom (Gerard Butler) will lose some of his crucial mystery when brought up close and personal with the audience. Seen at a distance, lurking in the shadows, he's a more remote and effective figure. Emmy Rossum fares better as Christine Daae, projecting a disarming mixture of beauty and innocence, and Patrick Wilson is a dashing Raoul. All three leads -- not to mention a funny Minnie Driver as the opera's resident diva -- come off pretty impressively in terms of their singing, which sounds enough like the original Broadway recordings to please ardent fans of the material. In fact, the exquisite sets, lush costumes, and sweeping camerawork -- even the black-and-white frame story -- all compliment the performances well enough. The result is a costume drama that's at times genuinely rousing. It's just not an Oscar winner. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi