Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7953 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-03-08
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Czech, English, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Polish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 118 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Let's be honest: this should be titled Wretched Excess' Frankenstein. Swooping, wild, bloody, and energetic, this is bad moviemaking from the best, which makes it all the more loveable. Kenneth Branagh plays Victor Frankenstein, a man so obsessed with conquering death that he decides to create life. What he gets, after a protoplasmic mud wrestle, is a Mean Streets monster (Robert De Niro) that isn't particularly happy to be back from the dead or thrilled about all the stitches. Helena Bonham Carter may, at several points in this film, actually be channelling Ramtha. The supporting cast couldn't be peopled with better performers (Tom Hulce, John Cleese, Ian Holm) but they all look like they're ringside at some Ultimate Fighting competition. A must for any midnight movie collector for the shock factor alone. A hoot. --Keith Simanton

Special Features
1.85 Wide Screen
DVD 5
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English\Dolby Digital Surround English
Dolby Digital 5.1
Dolby Digital Surround
Interactive Menu
Scene Access
Czech\English\Hebrew\Hindi\Hungarian\Icelandic\Polish

Synopsis
In this adaptation of the classic Mary Shelley tale, Kenneth Branagh stars as Victor Frankenstein, a man possessed by a mission to create life but painfully unaware of the consequences of his actions. He succeeds in his quest to create a man, but his creature (Robert De Niro) is both revolting and tragically aware of the effect he has on others. His creation escapes, and Frankenstein eventually gives him up for dead. The creature, however, is very much alive, tormented by his plight and plotting a horrible revenge. Shelley's novella is given a lush and lurid treatment by Branagh in this epic Gothic tragedy of a man who dares to play God. The film features a cast of strong supporting actors, including Helena Bonham Carter, Tom Hulce, Aidan Quinn, Ian Holm, and John Cleese.

Customer Reviews

A magnificent adaptation true to the vision of the novel
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.

Chilling horror
This is a particularly dark adaptation of the Frankenstein story, with a chillingly gothic sense of atmosphere. Branagh also succeeds in bringing a Shakesperian level of tragedy to the drama, rather than falling into the trap of focusing too exclusively on the macabre. De Niro makes a particularly fine re-animated creature, offering a suitable sense of pathos and frustratation at the lack of acceptance which ultimately provokes furious belligerence. His monster is one to be pitied as much as feared. The performance is far superior to Luke Goss' effort in the more recent adaptation (although it's hardly surprising that the veteran actor has rather more to offer than a man whose greatest achievement is former-membership of the band 'Bros'). Branagh takes us back to the gritty roots of Mary Shelley's literary classic. His obvious in-depth knowledge of the story lends a real air of authenticity, with none of the external clichés that are so frequently tacked-on by those who are blissfully ignorant towards the original text. His only glaring error comes in the reference to the monster's creator as 'Frankenstein'. As everyone knows, Frankenstein is the monster's name.

Absolutely Fantastic
As an English teacher I am constantly looking for ways to engage students in debate and rouse their interest in literature.

I use this film with 3 separate schemes of work because it works on so many different levels.

Students (11-16) LOVE it, I have yet to have a class who have not been fascinated by the story and the debates afterwards are often very fierce and passionate.

The film follows the story closely, there are nice little in-references to Mary and Shelley (whom the older Students are also interested in) and in all I find it faultless.

I would recommend it to any teacher of English and also to the causual viewer. I already owned this film on video before I became a teacher and I'm delighted that I get a chance to teach it.