YMMV / The Phantom of the Opera (2004)

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Christine appears naïve and innocent most of the time. Behind all that cuteness, though, she has a mean streak. After snatching off the Phantom's mask the first time, she tries not to laugh while he is having a meltdown. Later, she agrees to bait him during the premiere of Don Juan Triumphant. In the meantime, Raoul watches her very convincing seduction in agony, wondering where her loyalties really lie. At the tenderest moment of the performance, she snatches off the Phantom's mask. Unfortunately, he then flies into a murderous rage, bringing down the chandelier and setting the opera house ablaze. Of course, she avoids being accused of impropriety in any of her dealings with the Phantom.
• Awesome Music: All over the place, naturally, given that this is an ALW musical. Standouts, however, include a glorious(ly hilarious) version of "Prima Donna" (featuring English operatic star Margaret Preece as Carlotta's singing voice), perennial Broadway heartthrob Patrick Wilson duetting on "All I Ask of You", and Minnie Driver's credits song, "Learn To Be Lonely".
• Base-Breaking Character: Gerard Butler; you either found his performance as good as any other Phantom actor, or found him unbearable.
• Broken Base: The movie sharply divided fans of the show over plot changes and cast quality issues. However, most fans agree that the movie revived interest in the show itself, because people either loved or hated it and wanted to see what it had been based on—there had supposedly been plans to close the Broadway show before ticket sales resurged in the wake of the movie's release.
• Draco in Leather Pants: The fans of the musical have always done this to the Phantom to some extent, but it really skyrocketed once the movie came out thanks in part to Hollywood Homely. To be fair, the scar was downplayed in the film because Joel wanted to play up the fact that Erik's scar wasn't really that bad... which was a case of the director not doing the research.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Fan favorite performances are Minnie Driver as Carlotta, Jennifer Ellison as Meg, and Miranda Richardson as Madame Giry. Driver's Carlotta is considered among the best portrayal of the character to date, if not the best, Ellison - a trained ballerina - is praised for her dancing and physical movements, and Richardson for her gentler and kindler portrayal of Madame Giry along with the sole French accent in the film.
  • Ciarán Hinds and Simon Callow's portrayals of Firmin and Andre are also liked for providing excellent comic relief and playing up that aspect for the film.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: While the film wasn't that successful either critically or financially, it was HUGE in Japan - one of the biggest grosses of the year.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • The age difference between the Phantom (in their 30s) versus the seventeen-year-old Christine becomes even more uncomfortable when Patrick Wilson starred in Hard Candy the next year - as a suspected child molester.
  • Among the actors considered for the Phantom was Kevin Spacey - who was eventually accused of sexually assaulting minors.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • The actor playing Christine's father, Ramin Karimloo, went on to play the Phantom in Love Never Dies (as well as in the 25th Anniversary The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall special) so in a way she was correct when she thought the Phantom was her father.
  • Patrick Wilson plays Raoul, who at various parts of the musical/film calms down Christine's fears about the Phantom by telling her he's a man, and not a supernatural creature. Fast-forward to a few years later, and Patrick Wilson plays Ed Warren in The Conjuring. His character Josh Lambert has a similar attitude in Insidious, when more specifically he goes into a world of phantoms to rescue someone he loves, following the instructions of a knowlegeable older woman, only to disobey those instructions and wind up trapped.
  • Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman being among those considered for the lead roles 8 years before being cast in yet another film adaptation of a Broadway musical.
• Ho Yay: Andre and Firmin seem... unusually friendly. Becomes a Les Yay with Christine and Meg.
• Hollywood Homely: Yes, Gerard Butler is supposed to be hideous just because he has a really bad sunburn. Let's not forget that during "The Point of No Return," Butler's mask barely conceals more than his eyes and we see no deformity whatsoever - even over the parts of his face which, when exposed later, are deformed. The filmmakers attempted to Hand Wave this by showing some makeup on the Phantom's dressing table.
• It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: Some reviewers like Lindsay Ellis (who is a huge fan of the show and has apparently seen it twenty times) noted the film's tendency to not know when to change things. As an example in the show the framing device of an auction exists to give some preamble before the chandelier is flown over the heads of audiences. In a film, this doesn't work, and betrays how unneeded the framing device is narratively.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Some say that Minnie Driver is the sole reason to watch the movie. Others say that Patrick Wilson is the sole reason to watch the movie. Both sets of fans mutually agree that there aren't many other reasons to watch the movie.
• Memetic Mutation: THIS! IS! OPERA!! A meme within a meme. So meta...
• Questionable Casting: Gerard Butler: a Phantom who isn't an experienced singer? Really? Then again, though he doesn't sing as well as most of the actors on Broadway or in London, there are those who feel Butler does pretty decently for someone without prior experience or formal training...though it still begs the question of why they would cast a non-singer in one of the most difficult singing roles in all of musical theater. Amazingly, guess who thought this choice was perfect? Andrew Lloyd Webber! He said that Butler's "rock star"-style singing was as close to how he imagined the Phantom to sound when he originally wrote the show.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Patrick Wilson is seen as one of the best Raouls ever (in close competition with Hadley Fraser and, increasingly, Jordan Donica). It's probably also helped by Gerard Butler being a polarizing casting choice, and by the fact that Wilson is a longtime Broadway veteran who has spent years singing romantic leading roles.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Given that it's a movie, Really Useful could have opened the story up even further by making Gerard Butler look old and horrible "now" and then have him at 35 for everything from "the rosy hours of Mazenderan" up to the events of the show proper.
• Took the Bad Film Seriously: Minnie Driver as Carlotta and Patrick Wilson as Raoul stand out. Not only do they give two of the best performances in the film (if not the best performances, full stop), but Carlotta is meant as a comically-unlikeable prima donna and Raoul is normally seen as a generic leading man and a bit of a prick, which makes it even more surprising that audiences tend to like these two of all the characters in the film. Granted, Carlotta onstage is often a role that audiences Love to Hate.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: The Phantom gets a bit of this because of his Adaptational Attractiveness. The brilliant makeup used onstage for his deformity was not adapted to the screen, with his disfigurement here instead resembling really bad sunburn, as has been noted by detractors and even This Very Wiki. Admittedly, it's still an unfortunate look, but it's nowhere near as grotesque and horrifying as the other versions, which makes Erik removing himself from those around him and living in isolation feel like he's really overreacting to how bad it looks. Granted, he does have a tragic past relating to his appearance, and everyone acts just as horrified by it here as they do in the other versions. So while many viewers found this to be a case of Informed Deformity, it's still shown that he faces great prejudice over it In-Universe, which means while his self imposed isolation can be seen as justified. Except, it's also shown that Erik can cover it up perfectly with makeup when he appears with a mask covering less of his face, and the disfigured part looks perfectly normal. So it stands to reason that The Phantom would be able to cover up the rest of it as well, which means as long as he's careful, he could live amongst the rest of the world looking like Gerard Butler. So ultimately, while this version's deformity has caused him genuine pain, the big difference is he can solve his problem, but inexplicably doesn't, which makes it harder to Cry for the Devil.
• Values Dissonance: Joseph Buquet has access to the ballet girls' dormitory and is allowed to be there at night and while Meg changes clothes, which would not be acceptable in the modern day. Notably, Raoul sleeps in a chair outside of the dormitory while he's standing guard against the Phantom.

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