Special Effects? Amazing! Scenery, props, costuming... wonderful.I wish I had never seen it!!!The magic and mystery is killed as soon as the Phantom's mask is pulled of the first time, and it never recovers. I cried with a broken heart after seeing the movie. I am so in love with this play, but I cannot believe that the director chose youth over the neccesary maturity needed for the roles. Emmy has a beautiful voice... she's just not old enough for the part. Raoul is far too young. It's a joke. The Phantom needs to SING! Gerald Butler... he's not good enough.I pray that I can forget the trapdoors shown in the movie, and return myself to the magic world in the stage show. I feel like a child told that there is no Santa.I'm buying the DVD for one reason... the opening sequence, which I will watch over and over again. I'll turn it off after that.