allyball-63124 Review of The Phantom of the Opera

The Phantom of the Opera (1988 TV Movie)

Faithful, but Bland and Forgettable

[4/10 · 4 May 2017]

I have now seen this movie twice in my life and even though the story is heavily based on the book (and actually follows it pretty close,) I cannot remember a single thing about this film. I have a basic idea of what happens and the names of the characters but I remember hardly anything story or character-wise. I suppose I can give this film credit for being one of the most faithful adaptations of the book I've seen so far (there were even direct quotes from the book book, which was nice) but faithful doesn't always mean good. Remember, this is supposed to be a movie first and if you want to adapt something into a movie, there have to be change. Also, since this is adapting a pretty old story, there have to changes relating to the time period, like more interesting characters for example. Honestly, this movie could've worked better if the characters were interesting and not bland as a pile of sawdust. I will excuse the silent film for it's bland characters since it was released in the 1920's and characters weren't exactly top priority at that time. However, this movie was released in 1987! There is no excuse for the characters being so bland and forgettable. Even the Phantom/Erik is forgettable! That character should be very interesting but outside of some good/slightly amusing lines, there's not really much to him. My other major problem with this film is the animation itself. Honestly, the animation was really hard to watch. It was so bland, stilted and just overall janky and uncomfortable to watch. I won't harp on the animation too much since I'm sure they probably had a low budget, but it was extremely distracting. On a side note, I found this movie a little too goofy to actually consider a Phantom of the Opera movie. Aside from that, there's not much else to talk about with this film. I don't hate this film or even really dislike it. I just find it forgettable and at times, honestly really dumb.