Point of no return had ME believing!!!! What raging passion floods the soul, what rich desire unlocks its door, what sweet seduction lies before us. My favs: Masquerade! 'All I ask of you,' and 'Point of No Return.' Wow. Definitely worth seeing in a theatre if you can.

I say 'Bravo!' to the selection of Gerard. In the final verdict, I find the movie versions of these songs to be FAR superiour to the Broadway versions. Verdict: Give me Gerard Butler! His voice is masculine, seductive, and hypnotic.

I heard so much ado about Michael Crawford that I went to Amazon and listened to some of his renditions of these songs. Frankly, I find his throaty, sometimes raspy voice to be right on par. Some people have derided Gerard Butler's performance. The movie made it so real I was beginning to feel it myself. She WAS influenced by him, and he did cast a strong spell, and he was very alluring. maybe she *should* be with this guy after all.' But that's the whole point. During 'Past the point of no return' I'm sitting there with my wife, literally falling under the spell myself. I mean it borders on erotic it's so strong. But the attraction between him and Christine is pure, raw sensual. This Phantom is more 'mysterious' than hideous. By the end of some songs, like, 'All I ask of you' I'm restraining myself from singing the song out loud with them! The movie kind of departs from the setting of the original silent movie, in which the Phantom is actually quite hideous. I'd dare say that even if you are not a musical fan, if you are at least romantically inclined, you will LOVE this movie. Some of these shots must have taken weeks to compose, and I'm glad they invested the time. At the risk of sounding the heretic, I must say that a movie version removes the limitations of space and time to set up the stage, and so has the upper hand in the scenery and sets department. When it comes to sets, scenery and cinematography, they spared no expense. But at the very opening, as the long-dead chandelier rises to life, swinging in what seems like one endless arc, and scatters the colour of memories about as it flames back to life, and the theatre is washed in colour and majesty not seen in decades. We had seen only the original silent movie, not the stage play, (or even the soundtrack) before going.

Phantom of the opera