Customer Rating: 
Summary: Can't Get Enough of It!
Comment: I cannot get enough of this soundtrack. I listen to this almost daily and when I am not listening to it, I am humming or whistling or down right belting out the tunes of this most beloved musical of all time!
I was in highschool when the musical debuted with Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman in 1986. I have been familiar with Weber's music and the voices tied to the characters that became an overnight phenomenon world wide.
However, I did not have an opportunity to see the stage show (until just this year) so was delighted when they had made a movie of it. Thank you, Joel Schumacker! The movie tied the music and the story line together and I have been hooked since. So it was for obvious reasons why I purchased the movie soundtrack.
I am amazed and a little dismayed over the reaction Gerard Butler received as the movie Phantom. I knew nothing of this actor prior to this film. After seeing the movie, I was in love with this man and had to learn who he was and anything else about him. Off to the internet I went in search of this actor who made such an impression on me. I learned that Gerry (as he likes to be called) was not a stage-trained vocalist before he took on this role. Now, some people say that was obvious as they did not like his vocals. Many fans are true to the original London cast. And that's OK. But does that mean you cannot be open minded and realistic enough to know that Michael Crawford is not and will not be the only man to ever portray our beloved Phantom?
It would have been disastrous to have Mr. Crawford portray the Phantom for the movie. It would have been even more disastrous if Sarah Brightman played Christine. The point is these 2 beloved people are past the age where they can realistically play these young roles. It was much more realistic to have younger fresh actors take the roles. Christine was only 16 years old in the original novel. The Phantom was in his very early forties. The actors chosen were spot on age wise. Emmy Rossum was 16 when she signed on. She also trained at the Metropolitan Opera at the age of 7. Gerard Butler was 34. A tad younger, but it didn't really matter yet it was more acceptable that a 34 year old recluse would be sexually attracted to a 16 year old budding diva and vice versa.
I am a trained singer. I have sung in the finest concert halls of Europe. I have heard many, many trained vocalists. BUT NONE OF THEM DO TO ME WHAT GERARD BUTLER'S VOICE DOES TO ME. It doesn't bother me at all that he is not a classically trained vocalist. In fact, after finding out that he wasn't trained when he took on this challenge, made me admire him even more. While I was listening to POTO for the first time, you couldn't tell me that he wasn't trained. I knew his vocals were much different than Michael Crawford's, but I felt his voice fit the role for the film. Gerard has a deeper, richer, fuller voice that is sexy as heck and a voice that I now prefer over Mr. Crawford's tinnier, higher tenor.
Gerard's raw passionate performance knocked me off my feet. I fell in love with Gerry after watching Phantom because of the way he moved me so. His voice is so seductive and rich and sexy and captivating. His "Music of the Night" leaves me breathless. His "Point of No Return" seduces the heck out of me (and the entire female population). His sad, pleading "All I Ask of You" before Christine rips his mask off during "Don Juan Triumphant" is heartbreaking. Heartwrenching, growling "Down Once More" has me crying for his pain. He grips me in the core of my womanhood and won't let go. In this way I feel like I am Christine....drawn to the hypnotic power of his voice and the raw sensuality that draws me to him. I can't explain it, I can only FEEL it. And I can't get enough of him.
Emmy Rossum's Christine was a standout, breakout performance. This young lady CAN SING! Her voice is so clear and vibrant and sexy and she possess an incredible range. This gal has a future in music. I would keep an eye on this one!
I also feel Patrick Wilson's voice is just angelic and beautiful, but he lacks the passion that Gerard seems to have in spades.
Although Minnie Driver did not sing her own vocals, her performance was without a doubt brilliant as La Carlotta. She sings the ending title song "Learn to Be Lonely". She does a beautiful job.
The orchestrations are slightly different than the musical but all in all, it is the same music we all fell in love with back in 1986. The orchestrations are fuller with 110 piece orchestra, 90 voice choir and an added guitar that gives this familiar music a fresh rock n roll edge, but not enough to take away from the classic orchestrations we all love.
I truly admire and LOVE ALL the performances of the movie. Gerard, while not a trained singer, put his entire heart and soul into this role and rose to the challenge and did the best job anybody could have hoped to do. That to me, no matter what the critics say, impresses and amazes me the most and Gerard deserves the credit of a job exceptionally well done.
If you are a fan of Weber's musical - you need to have this soundtrack!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Sountrack and Movie
Comment: I am an avid phantom fan. I have seen the play both in Los Angeles as well as in Las Vegas and then saw the movie when it came out. The soundtrack is just so riveting and powerful. When you hear it, you can see the movie in front of your eyes. It's just as good as watching the movie itself. For those who love musicals, I highly recommend it. You won't regret it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: It's like seeing the movie through my memory.
Comment: Some of the larger performances are my particular favorites, especially Masquerade. I just love Gerard Butlers performance.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Beautiful
Comment: I prefer Emmy Rossum's voice to Sarah Brightman - not nearly as "trilly", which I find annoying to listen to.
Just an wonderful soundtrack that takes you through the movie audibly. Love it!
Customer Rating:
Summary: "The Phantom of the Opera"2004 movie soundtrack-deluxe edition
Comment: I only saw this movie for the first time a few weeks ago, and was absolutely blown away by the beauty of the music. My only other contact with POTO was the 1943 movie.
The music is wonderful, beautifully composed, and I say ths as a music major in college. I felt the casting was excellent. If I want Opera singers, I will go for Opera, but this is a musical, and I feel that The leads were excellent. Christine is a teenager, so the casting of a teen for the part was correct. And Gerard Butler was great. He had both a good singing voice and also interpreted the scary and threatning parts of the musical dialogue extremely well. Plus he was a very romantic Phantom, even the facial disfigurement did not detract from feeling that all he wanted was for her to love him. When she went off with the wimpy count (and he is wimpy in the book by Gaston Leroux too) I was devastated for the Phantom. When she came back to give him the ring, and he was crying and said "Christine I Love You', it was enough to bring you to tears. I also appreciated that the movie was clean, and presented the love in a pure light, which surely does not hold true for most of the trash you see today. It made the beauty of the Phantom's love even more poignant than if he had "ravished her on the spot" which is so popular in today's culture. I also plan to buy the movie. This one is worth listening to and seeing over and over again. BTW-according to the book, it is a true story.
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