Shrill and shriller.

I think the most remarkable thing about Joel Shumacher's putrid recreation of Lord Andrew Llyod Weber's The Phantom of the Opera is how reverential it treats the source material. To quote Neil LaBute: "It's not fucking Medea." You'd never know as every single note from the original is preserved, Dolby Digitalized, and blasted back at deafening levels. Every cringe-inducing, subtextless lyric (basically all of them) has been kept for your amazement (I think my favorite goes: "Down once more/to the dungeon/of my black despair!/Down we plunge/to the prison/of my mind/Down that path/into darkness/deep as hell!"). They didn't even tweak the title song (which was dated when it premiered in 1986) with its Flock of Seagulls synth-bass and Kenny Loggins electric guitar solos. The basic fact is, which'll be obvious to most, Lord Lloyd Weber's musical is a complete turd. Joel Shumacher seems to be in awe of this turd (or at least has been paid to be). Shumacher is a worthless director, incapable of directing almost anything. Imagine two and half hours of that combo. It's not pretty.
To be fair, P.T. Anderson could be directing that fucker and I'd hate it. Avoid it, people. Avoid it.
(Just FYI: the second most remarkable aspect of the film is they picked a Phantom who can't sing. It's really humiliating to watch this poor guy attempt these high notes and belt those lyrics and he just can't. People, the Phantom of the Opera can't sing.)