I had remembered "Phantom Of The Opera" as an extremely entertaining movie with fantastic music. Well, as with many things it turned out that my memory has made more of this flick than there really is to it.
The story isn't even half bad. A strange mixture of "Faust" and "Phantom Of The Opera" it's filled with some ratty criticism on the music industry. Unfortunately, Brian De Palma puts style over matter once again (and of course he didn't forget the obligatory Hitchcock reference, either). While the movie is visually appealing, the story becomes deliberately unrealistic and goofy, which gets a bit tiresome after a while.
Musically "Phantom Of The Opera" is quite enjoyable, but the songs are nowhere near as catchy or interesting as the ones from the very similar and more successful "Rocky Horror Picture Show". If you like rock musicals and glam fairy tales such as "Velvet Goldmine", you could get a kick out of this movie, too. If you don't, be prepared to yawn your way through "Phantom Of The Paradise".
The story isn't even half bad. A strange mixture of "Faust" and "Phantom Of The Opera" it's filled with some ratty criticism on the music industry. Unfortunately, Brian De Palma puts style over matter once again (and of course he didn't forget the obligatory Hitchcock reference, either). While the movie is visually appealing, the story becomes deliberately unrealistic and goofy, which gets a bit tiresome after a while.
Musically "Phantom Of The Opera" is quite enjoyable, but the songs are nowhere near as catchy or interesting as the ones from the very similar and more successful "Rocky Horror Picture Show". If you like rock musicals and glam fairy tales such as "Velvet Goldmine", you could get a kick out of this movie, too. If you don't, be prepared to yawn your way through "Phantom Of The Paradise".