Since there is no review of this movie so far, I will try to do the first one. Unfortunately, it won't be a very nice review.
Let's start with the good parts: The look of the movie is quite okay. There are nice shots from Austria, and some parts I even know. Also the fantasy-sequences (i.e. The part where the plot of the opera is set) are nice to look at. Sure, it's not "Lord of the Rings", but the effects are okay and the sets are, well, not really lavish, but convincing. Also the connection between the parts in the reality and the fantasy-parts was well done, without giving away too much. Yes, there is a bit of cliché regarding the pupils in the 'Mozart-school', but that's okay; it's not more than usual in a High school movie, and to a certain degree this is a High school movie.
The parts I can live with: Not surprisingly, there is a lot of political correctness: Monostatos, who in the opera is a slave from Africa, is now some old white guy (very white indeed!); instead, Sarastro, 'the good guy', is now a person of colour. Okay, why not! Having a boarding school in an old castle is a big cliché: All important music schools in Austria are, of course, at places where you have ample opportunities to stay on stage, i.e. In the big cities, i.e. In Vienna and in Salzburg. But okay; the castle is a nice location.
The bad parts: Well, there is one thing which wasn't as bad as I thought: After having seen the trailer, I was afraid that they would try to 'update' Mozart's music somehow. Fortunately, they didn't: When we hear Mozart in this movie, it is the original, classical music. (Or more or less; I am no expert on that. The music we get is basically a 'Best Of' of the opera.) There is also some additional, modern score by Martin Stock, but separated from Mozart's music. So far, so good - as long as there is no singing! Because this is by far the biggest problem of this movie: The voices of the actors might be okay for a musical, but not for Mozart. Clearly, they are no trained singers, and this is a big issue for a movie which is mostly about classical music! The only exception seems to be Sabine Devieilhe, who is doing the Queen of the night; it is just impossible to do her part in an un-ridiculous way without some training. Otherwise, the singing is more or less embarrassing. Why haven't they chosen some young singers? There should be enough of them, who are also good looking, and probably even some, who also can act on the screen. Pity ...
