I reckon the critics can't help but look at cheesiness in a Joel Schumacher film and not think of 'Batman & Robin', and considering that Schumacher is nothing short of cheesy, whether it be on a 'Batman & Robin' scale or whatever, I guess he'll continue to never catch a break, as sure as Emmy Rossum will clearly have a hard time breaking out as a major star, even with a hit this massive under her belt, and Gerard Butler will never catch a break when it comes to romance films of any kind. Man, I certainly don't agree with the Rotten Tomatoes consensus, but I love how it goes on and on about how the film is 'histrionic, boring, and lacking in both romance and danger', and then they turn right around and basically say, 'Oh yeah, but it looks pretty'.

Speaking of finally getting the musical version, this is certainly Joel Schumacher's big return to the magical world of musicals, only this time, he's actually dealing with white people problems instead of trying to be 'that white guy' who does a black film, which is probably why this film got better reviews other than 'Sparkle', which isn't to say that this film's reviews have been all that glowing. even though it was a booming financial success and hit with audiences, though that's probably because the non-critic drama geeks likely didn't know about Joel Schumacher's filmography. and no film adaptations since, so that should probably tell you about how well this film did with critics.

Man, this novel has been adapted to death, then back again actually in the form of a phantom, then back to death again, but now, we've got ourselves a little twist. It took them, like, 78 tries, but they finally got the musical version, which, in all fairness, didn't hit the stage until nearly 80 years after 'Le Fantôme de l'Opéra' came out, but that still narrows the number of adaptations down to about 43 since 1986.

Phantom of the opera cast christine