Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Rating:
Summary: good, faithful adaptation of Shelley's novel
Review: All right, Frankenstein should be done exactly like this. Anyone who thinks otherwise needs to read the book. It has the sea captain everyone else decided to leave out of the movies. It has a monster that LOOKS like what Mary Shelley envisioned. Also, it doesn't add anything to the original story but accepts Mary Shelley's story as she wrote it without all the ridiculous trappings of the peasant mob, the windmill, and the namechnge for Frankenstein. People who downgrade this movie just don't know what they're talking about and need to read the book to see if Branagh didn't do better than James Whale at protraying Frankenstein.

Rating:
Summary: Not an authentic adaptation of the book, but still fun.
Review: "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.

Rating:
Summary: Did Mary Shelley make you fear or sympathis the creature?
Review: For my coursework i need to answer the follwoing question " Do you think Mary Shelley makes the reader fear or sympathise with the creature created?"
If you wouldn't mind could you send me your opinions of this, it would help me greatly.
Thank you
rox_angel

Rating:
Summary: A great classic film!
Review: I watched Frankenstein a few years ago when i was much younger and didn't watch all of it so i didn't really understand it all yet i still really liked it. I think this really reflects to the book writen by Mary Shelly as its hard to make it exactly right. I think Kenneth Branagh and Helena Bonham Carter and Robert De Niro were all excellent in this film and Helena Bomham Carter is my favourite actress i have seen her in many films. Although like another review said i did find this quite sad along with its horror but thats the whole point i suppose, thats the reason it makes it good. I would recommend this to teenagers and above so you can understand the whole film and enjoy. Of course overall I really enjoyed this film it is a good horror which is sad and a good love story and i'm sure many others who haven't seen it yet will enjoy it to.

Rating:
Summary: RAGING BULLCRAP
Review: Why all the scars on the faces of the monsters? It would seem to me if you were going to lop a head onto someone else's body, you wouldn't need to cut into their faces so much? And why cut off their hands? Can't he use the whole arm? Aside from this, Kenneth Branagh gets an A for Effort in his overblown rendition of Ms. Shelley's classic novel. The music and sets are visually impressive, but there isn't one performance in the movie that seems real or motivated. Branagh prances around like a madman during the creation scene; Helena Bonham Carter is lovely to look at, but that's it; Tom Hulce almost manages to breathe life into his role as Henry, Victor's friend; and Robert De Niro is woefully miscast as the creature.
A nice try but overall a mediocre achievement.

Rating:
Summary: Faithful and frightening
Review: Frankenstein is one of my all time favorite novels. Everytime I see it in the bookstore, I feel compelled to buy it again. I currently own more than half a dozen copies. This film version is very faithful to the original story. That is what makes this version so good. The tale itself is masterfully told, being equally disturbing, terrifying, and heartbreaking. This adaptation is passionately told, and worthy of having the name of the great Mary Shelley in the title.

Rating:
Summary: Grave Tale Brought to Life in Horrid Production
Review: In keeping with the grade school trend started by Francis Ford Coppola with "Bram Stoker's Dracula", director Kenneth Branagh again overstates the obvious in titling his foray into monster films "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein". Thanks, Kenny, we are aware that Mrs. Shelley wrote Frankenstein. Maybe he thought Shelley might be able to take some of the blame for a slipshot adaptation of a masterpiece of gothic horror.

Granted this is one of the more faithful adaptations of the Frankenstein story to grace the big screen in years. Yet it is the production of the film itself that does disservice not only to the novel but to the audience as well. Kenneth Branagh also stars as the brilliant and overly ambitious medical student Victor Frankenstein, whose fascination with death leads to an all-consuming obsession with life. Kudos to Branagh for getting into such good shape for his self-aggrandizing shirtless monster making scenes. Apparently it's tough to bring dead bodies back to life while wearing clothes. Now, one of the more appealing aspects of Frankenstein's monster, particularly in the movies, is its enormous hulking form that Shelley intended to be a vision born of a nightmare. So when 5'9" Robert de Niro emerges from the ooze as the monster, the horror factor drops dramatically. And if the scars on the monster are indicative of the good doctor's medical prowess, I'll take my chances at a charity hospital, thank you very much. Even with forced perspective, tiny furniture and ensuring there is nothing around de Niro to use as scale, he still just looks like a short guy with some really bad facelift scars. Helena Bonham Carter as Victor's wife Elizabeth is a screeching, babbling mess whom after a while I was hoping would get in the monster's way. Tom Hulce as Victor's confidant and John Cleese as the eccentric med school professor are solid and entertaining though obviously overly directed to dramatic excess.

The film does a passable job at following the tragedy of the Frankenstein family and the consequences Victor faces for having played God. Yet, like the novel, the tale is a very depressing and heart-wrenching one to say the least and one reason why it is difficult to translate onto celluloid. Turning it over to a Hollywood-minded production team is the first step in insuring that it will fail to live up to the ideals that Mary Shelley intended.

Long-winded at times and flat out boring at others, "Frankenstein" in this latest incarnation is a monstrous effort little worthy of your time.


Rating:
Summary: Not an authentic adaptation of the book, but still fun.
Review: "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.

Rating:
Summary: Excellnt film!
Review: This is bye far, the best remake of Frankenstein ever. This is better than the Frankenstein sequel's to, well MOST of the Frankenstein sequel's at lest. Comes very close to the perfect book written by Mary Shelley. Some people said this was bad because there was to much drama. Will people stop being Nerd's!