The Phantom of the Opera
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: December 22, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
40
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 39 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
14
Negative:
15
Watch Now
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
38
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Combines fingernails-on-blackboard audio agony with bamboo-under-fingernails physical torture. Read full review
30
Village VoiceJorge Morales
This Phantom's an overblown mess of ostentatious razzmatazz. Sure, all the ingredients of camp are there (oh, the hubris!), but this isn't a so-bad-it's-good classic. It's worse. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
The real problem with "Phantom" is the problem with Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals in general. It's a slow-moving orgy of lowbrow grandiosity that's as tedious as it is overblown and pretentious. Read full review
30
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Lord Lloyd Webber's thorough acquaintance with the canon of 18th- and 19th-century classical music is not in doubt, but his attempt to force a marriage between that tradition and modern musical theater represents a victory of pseudo-populist grandiosity over taste - an act of cultural butchery akin to turning an aviary of graceful swans and brilliant peacocks into an order of Chicken McNuggets. Read full review
30
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Adding an additional layer of cheese to a project that already reeks hopelessly of Velveeta, Schumacher pumps up the empty spectacle, stranding his fetching-but-lifeless mannequins amid giant sets and overblown production numbers. Read full review
30
SalonStephanie Zacharek
This film "Phantom" takes everything that's wrong with Broadway and puts it on the big screen in a gaudy splat. Read full review
30
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
An experience best likened to being battered by hurricane-force winds generated by an organ with all stops pulled permanently out.
30
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
We should not be surprised, then, if this bellowing beast of a movie looks and sounds like the extended special-edition remix of a Duran Duran video. Read full review
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
Phantom still an auditory lobotomy. Read full review
25
New York PostLou Lumenick
Crashing chandelier, crashing bore. Read full review
25
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
In Schumacher's relentlessly arrhythmic and tone-deaf film, Gerard Butler plays the title role as if he were just plucked out of Monty Python's lumberjack chorus. Read full review
25
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
It has a little something to irritate everybody. People looking for romance will find only cardboard lovers. People looking for a resounding musical will find it odd that the camera runs away from the lip-synching cast. And people looking for opera -- well, shame on you. Read full review
20
SlateDavid Edelstein
Made for the most excruciating two-and-a-half hours I've ever spent in a theater. Read full review
20
Dallas ObserverBill Gallo
Runs two hours and 20 minutes and plays like 10 days in the county jail. Read full review
16
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
It adds up to a truly taxing couple of hours: ham acting, visual noise, aural torture, elementary plotting and unconvincing emotions. Read full review
More From This Movie

40 Critic Reviews

8.4 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 77 Project Hail Mary
2 75 Send Help
3 73 Hoppers
4 72 The Sheep Detectives
5 68 Crime 101
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL