Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein is a visual masterpiece. This is something even its haters will find hard to argue with.
But is it a good movie?
Well, yes and no. The characters are well fleshed-out and equally well portrayed. There’s not a single bad acting job in sight here. The costumes and sets are absolutely superb. Frankenstein is a love letter to practical design over CGI, and worse AI, with amazing sets that were all handcrafted, as well as the practical makeup on the “monster”.
I honestly have not one bad word to say about the looks of the movie. Nor about the fact that del Toro chose to not follow the book to the letter.
Although that is where my reservations come from. I don’t like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. I know, it is well written. I agree that it absolutely deserves its place in literary and horror history. But it’s just not my kind of story. I have always found it hard to resonate with it, regardless of how many iterations I have read and watched. Del Toro’s movie is no different.
You may argue this makes me the wrong person for this review. On the other hand, I went into this movie with very few expectations, as the story holds no particular affinity for me to begin with.
And I did like the film for the aforementioned reasons. Which just goes to show that the amount of love the entire crew has clearly poured into this film really paid off. I can definitely recommend it, if only for the exceptional visual feast it is.
