What sold me on "Frankenstein" was the relative faithfulness to the spirit of the book. (I say relative, because bringing a novel to the screen involves some necessary alteration. The two media are different.)

Shelley's hastily-written tale pits Man and Science against God and Nature. Surprise, surprise, Man loses. Branagh is believable as the obsessed and arrogant Frankenstein who stops at nothing, risks everything to beat Death. Robert DiNiro is absolutely the most true Frankenstein's monster ever depicted on screen.

The scene where Frankenstein brings the monster to life is thrilling. The set looks right, the scheme of reanimation is brilliant. It's my favorite scene in the film.

There is a lot that is excessive and frankly over the top in the film, but to me that added to the Nineteenth Century feel and pacing. Romantic literature can be huge--because Romanticism exaggerates and dramatizes the heroic and tragic. This film captures that sensibility.

If you look at any of the other attempts to film Shelley's novel, you might agree with me that they don't come close to doing justice to the novel (for example, the old black and white film, which is not one of my favorites, and the more recent flop "The Bride".) This version comes very close, perhaps as close as a film can come to Shelley's masterpiece.


A magnificent adaptation true to the vision of the novel   October 20, 2003
 32 out of 39 found this review helpful

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is a masterful motion picture. While it does take a few liberties with Shelley's classic novel, it does a wonderful job of capturing the essence of the original story, specifically the humanity of the creature. While a little over-the-top at times and surprisingly gory, this film forcefully echoes Shelley's philosophical, moral, and ethical questions, and by so doing redefines the creature in its original image. What I have always found to be the most crucial scenes in the story are here displayed in all of their troubling glory, and perhaps it is the heightened intellectual nature of this film that explains why a surprisingly large number of people find disappointment where I find stimulating triumph. There are enough horror-laden scenes to capture the attention of the general horror lover, but the real substance of this story, for those who prefer their monster to serve as a complicated, amoral representation of man himself, is ambrosia for those who are more fascinated by the questions Frankenstein raises than by the horrors he unleashes.

The inspiration for young Victor Frankenstein's obsession with conquering death is delineated pretty clearly, given its most intense emotional charge by the death of his doting mother while giving birth to his little brother. His time at university is a little rushed, however, strangely incorporating the influence of a mentor whose work Victor vows to complete; where the older doctor halted his studies out of fear, Victor will push over the brink without hesitation. Victor's lab is a bit overdone, featuring all manner of miscellaneous gizmos, vials, and wossnames that look impressive with blue bolts of electricity (not generated by lightning, by the way) pulsing through them. The monster, as we first meet him, is less than impressive, and a prolonged scene of Victor water-wrestling a guy wearing a patently fake body suit inserts a little unfortunate levity into what should be a most serious scene. Victor's reaction to his creation is probably the weakest spot in an otherwise powerful film, as his sudden repudiation of everything he has ever worked for rings patently false.

It is with the entrance of the monster, however, that this film truly begins to shine. Mary Shelley's monster is not evil, nor is he a monster in the stereotypical sense by which he has come to be viewed by modern audiences. He is most definitely a victim and a creature deserving of much sympathy. Abandoned by his creator, his first interaction with mankind finds him fleeing a mob intent on hurting him for no reason apart from his ugliness. He takes shelter in a pigsty adjoined to a simple house in the country, and through a crack in the wall he not only learns to read and write, he gets to experience vicariously the joys and travails of family life. He becomes a guardian angel of sorts, secretly helping the family survive and prosper. At Christmas, in a truly touching scene, he finds a gift the family has left outside for their secret helper. One day, he gets a chance to actually interact with the blind old man of the house, sitting and conversing with another human for the first time in his wretched life, but all too quickly the family he had come to think of as his own, chases him away with blows and curses. If your heart does not break at the sight of the creature sobbing in the forest after this ultimate betrayal by mankind, you are the true monster. This whole scene is absolutely critical in terms of explaining who the monster is and why he does what he goes on to do, yet most film adaptations skip this scene entirely. Only now does the creature vow to seek revenge on the creator who abandoned him; only now has this ultimate victim become a monster in the form of amoral man.

The rest of the film is handled quite well, and Helena Bonham Carter is simply wonderful in her role as Victor's significant other. The ending goes beyond the scope of the original novel, and it does so in a strikingly grisly way, but the overall effect of this film is true to Shelley's original vision. Robert De Niro gives a particularly compelling performance as Frankenstein's monster, the look and feel of the late eighteenth-century setting is spot on, and the musical soundtrack complements the plot extraordinarily well. While I would prefer to see a movie strictly faithful to Shelley's novel, this exemplary albeit somewhat effusive adaptation hits the core messages of the story dead on and stands, in my opinion, as a truly impressive cinematic accomplishment.


Film Does Novel Justice   June 10, 2003
 26 out of 31 found this review helpful

If you rent or buy this movie expecting to see a tall, big, green ugly monster with bolts on the side of his head that staggers around, then you might be disappointed. This is the real version of Frankenstien, which is based on the novel by Mary Shelley. I realize how hard it is to make a movie completely accurate to a book, but this film covers the crucial moments of the story while still keeping a good horror movie flavor intact.

What made this movie were the scenes with Frankenstein's monster lurking in the shadows of society, waiting for the right time to try to take a chance on being accepted despite who or what he is. We get to see the progression of an ugly and relatively innocent "creation" to the "fiend" he becomes when people show hatred towards him. The monster's rejection from civilization is one of the main premises of the story, making him the "monster" that he is, and this element of the tale is often left unexplained in other versions of Frankenstein (including the very popular 30s version).

I also thought the background of this movie and scenery where accurate for this film's story.The crew aboard the cold icy seas looking for a chance at a better existence. The confronation between Frankenstein and his creation in an cold, icy setting. Frankenstein's monster lurking in a forest, watching a typicial family in an attempt to comprehend how people and society operate. These settings highlight the dreariness and isolation that both Frankenstein and his creation feel.

In my opinion, this is one of the best horror movies out there. This movie deals with the wrongs that are created when one tries to "correct" a problem with technology. Kenneth Branaugh and Robert De Niro do excellent jobs in this depiction of the Frankenstein story. An overall very good horror movie that I recommend for anyone.


Not an authentic adaptation of the book, but still fun.   May 19, 2004
 21 out of 22 found this review helpful

"Mary Shelley's Frankenstein" is an incredibly melodramatic adaptation of the book that takes huge liberties with the plot, but I still find it thoroughly entertaining. The movie is perfectly cast, and I think that the embellishments that Kenneth Branagh takes with the story only make the film more enjoyable. Even though I doubt that Dr. Frankenstein ran around without a shirt on as much as Branagh does in the film, most women will probably find it quite enjoyable. Robert DeNiro is amaing in his role of "the creature," and Helena Bonham Carter gives a great performance as Elizabeth. If you're the type of person who detests it when filmmakers stray too far from the text of the book they're adapting, then this film probably isn't for you. If you're a bit more open-minded and are just looking for an entertaining movie to watch, this is a perfect film to add to your collection.


earth to Branagh: stick with Shakespeare!   July 29, 2000
 13 out of 17 found this review helpful

One thing Kenneth Branagh does well is to bring Shakespeare to life... but Shakespeare's plays were written as performances, Mary Shelley's "Frankensein" was not. Going from novel to screenplay involves more than adding a bunch of paragraph breaks and lighting cues in the margin of a book.

The thought that a doctor could be so skilled at sewing one person's head (including the spinal cord, other nerves, blood systems, etc.) onto another person's body is amazing, but totally laughable when you see that the stitches look like they were done by Stevie Wonder using guitar strings. Gore in many places for the sake of gore... and what was going on with Branagh's obsession with his own chest? I was half-expecting him to swing on a vine and beat on it like a gorilla.

De Niro and the rest of the cast give a marvelous performance, but it is not enough to save this wretched tale. A lot of magnificent talent went into set designs, costumes, location and filming, but this film fell on its face. You feel every agonizing second of the 2+ hour film tick away as you wait for something good to happen. Good acting and a good story are not enough sometimes and this film proves it. There are some exquisite scenes and powerful moments, but they are few and far between this shattered mess of a film. Horrific violence and one of the most bloody mother-in-labor scenes in memory make this a film unsuitable for children, expectant mothers or those with weak constitutions.