A Musical With Little Lift

Watched The Phantom of the Opera, director Joel Schumacher’s attempt to put on celluloid Andrew Lloyd Webber’s long-running musical. The director has been accused of making the Batman franchise frivolous and fey. In response, he made two gritty films, Tigerland and Phonebooth (curiously, both starred the very sexy Colin Farrell). Schumacher should have retained his frivolity in his latest effort. Despite the sumptuous cast and production design, this movie needed more chutzpa in terms of direction and camera work. It needed the manic energy that fueled Baz Luhrman’s Moulin Rouge. Maybe Schumacher felt he’d suffer too much in comparison to that Oscar-nominated musical. Only in the musical numbers “Notes from the Phantom” and “Primadonna” did the movie seem to lift a bit. Otherwise, the whole movie had a very heavy mood, like it was weighed down by all the gold and heavy textile of the sets and costumes.