Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, released in 1994 is as far as I have found the most accurate adaptation of Mary Shelley's classic novel. The movie starred Robert De Niro as the monster, Kenneth Branagh as Victor Frankenstein (he was also the director of the film), Helena Boham Carter as Elizabeth Frankenstein, and Ian Holm as Frankenstein's father. The movie was also produced in part by Frances Ford Coppola, who was the director of Bram Stoker's Dracula. This is the most faithful adaptation of the book, but it does not come without its flaws. First of all, the movie is frantically paced, and always seems to be rushing from one scene to the next, and never taking time to focus on actual story telling. The movie is also not a horror movie in any sense of the word, the movie is rather a tragedy, and there is no way that it can end happily, and I feel a lot of people were expecting a horror film when they watched this, but instead found themselves watching a tragic drama. However with that said, the movie does portray the monster as a tragic figure, and like the book, begs the viewer to consider who is the real monster, the obsessed dr who creates this life, just to abandon it and cast it out, or the creature who is created and look grotesque. I found myself feeling sadness for the monster, and seeing him as a child who's father abandoned him and cast him out, I saw him as a child who has never known love, never known friendship, who was never taught how to be a person. I see Frankenstein as the monster, because he takes no responsibility for the creature that he has created, he puts himself above this poor creature that he has created. The creature is not bad, because of a bad brain, which is a story used in past movie adaptations, the creature is bad because it was never taught any better. It kills because it does not know wrong from right, or even how to control its own strength. It is not evil by nature, but rather by nurture, or in this case maybe lack of nurturing. Frankenstein is a self-absorbed egomaniac who selfishly creates life as a way to end his own sorrow, because he couldn't handle the death of his mother, or death in general. That is what is great about the story of Frankenstein, because it is a morality play, because it begs you to consider, who in fact is the real monster in the story, and urges to viewer to make their own decisions. On a more technical view, the movie looks good, though again a bit rushed, the sets are all really well done, as are the effects. The best is probably the monster himself, because gone is the stereotype of the hulking beast with the square head and the bolts coming out of his neck, but instead the monster is mostly human, though sewn back together by Frankenstein after the operations needed to restore life to it. The monster looked closer to how I pictured it from the book, however I feel the best version of The Monster that I have seen to date is on the show Penny Dreadful, in fact the Frankenstein back story in that television series may be one of the most faithful to date. A lot of the creation of the monster is hastily glazed over, and much of the actual detail taken out, this is actually true of much of the story, which I suppose is necessary to fit such a story into a 2 hour movie. Maybe it was a bit too ambitious as some critics have said, but honestly I do love this movie, and it saddens me to see that it has seemed to fade from most movie viewers memories. Sometimes, I wonder is part of my goal in writing these reviews to keep alive the movies that people seem to have forgotten....I don't know but if I can help a movie like this to be seen again in a new light, then I guess I have succeeded in something that is important to me. Would I recommend this movie? Yes, without a shadow of doubt I would recommend this movie. To anyone who has watched any of the Frankenstein movies over the years, I would say that this is one that must not be skipped. I absolutely do love this movie, flaws and all, I think it was well acted, a fair adaptation, good looking, it's biggest flaw is the fast pace and bluntness of it, I feel slowing down and adding in more subtlety would have greatly improved it, though probably making it nearly unwatchably long. I really do think everyone should see this amazing movie, I love it.