This particular Phantom certainly has the presence, but I wasn’t impressed with his vocal ability. Minnie Driver gives comic relief as the company prima donna. The staging is beautiful, costumes elaborate. It’s a feast for the eyes. I was swept away with it. It’s a whole different experience seeing the stage production, and I certainly recommend it. But the movie is solid, and I think it would enhance the theatre experience to see it first, as it makes it easier to understand. With the use of close-ups and effects and editing, the story flows, characters are well-defined and emotions made all the more real up close and personal.

Emma Watson plays Sam, a free-spirited girl who Charlie falls in love with.  She has her own issues, and their friendship grows as they help each other cope.

Really wonderful movie, with a great story and fully fleshed out characters. Sad, sweet, and intelligent.

The story is just like the Hellboy story – the emperor is basically “frozen” because a witch cast a spell on him, and his army is frozen as well.  And the bad guys want to bring him back to life – I say “bad guys” because it’s never really clear who these people are or what they really expect to accomplish with all this.  So of course, pandemonium ensues, there are tons of fight scenes, special effects, on and on… yawn.  Then as some forced comic relief, the brother gets into silly scrapes and it’s all very slapstick.

Which audience would appreciate this kind of a movie.  I’d guess pre-teen boys.  Any younger and they’d be scared.  Any older and they’ve seen it done before, and better.

• Plot summary:  Based on the true story of the greatest treasure hunt in history, The Monuments Men is an action drama focusing on an unlikely World War II platoon, tasked by FDR with going into Germany to rescue artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves and returning them to their rightful owners. It would be an impossible mission: with the art trapped behind enemy lines, and with the German army under orders to destroy everything as the Reich fell, how could these guys – seven museum directors, curators, and art historians, all more familiar with Michelangelo than the M-1 – possibly hope to succeed? But as the Monuments Men, as they were called, found themselves in a race against time to avoid the destruction of 1000 years of culture, they would risk their lives to protect and defend mankind’s greatest achievements. From director George Clooney, the film stars George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville, and Cate Blanchett. The screenplay is by George Clooney & Grant Heslov, based on the book by Robert M. Edsel with Bret Witter. Produced by Grant Heslov and George Clooney.

  – Written by Sony Pictures Entertainment