This movie review was chosen by  pino.noir. I hope you like it, friend!

A ship trying to reach the North Pole is stranded in ice and the captain meets a stranger on the ice. The stranger reveals himself to be Victor Frankenstein (Kenneth Branagh) and tells the captain a terrible tale. Victor Frankenstein used to be a promising medical student with a beautiful fiancee, Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter). Victor's mentor is Professor Waldman (John Cleese), who had previously dabbled with reanimating the dead. Victor becomes obsessed with the thought of cheating death and creating life. Victor manages to give life to a monstrous Creature (Robert De Niro), but comes to realise that he has created an abomination and abandons the Creature to die. However, the Creature doesn't die and seeks vengeance on his creator for abandoning him.

Bram Stoker's Dracula was released in 1992 anfairly successful, so it was only natural that Mary Shelley's Dracula would follow soon after. Unlike the Dracula film, this film was more faithful to the source material even though some things were still changed. I have never read the original Feankenstein so I can't say what has and hasn't been changed. I id end up quite enjoying the film though. It probably won't be my favourite version of Frankenstein (that will still be the Hammer version), but at least it is better than that terrible Frankenstein Unbound film that Roger Corman made.

Many have praised the film for being visually striking, but criticized the overwrought performances. I loved the hammy performances however. You sort of expect over-the-top performances from this sort of film. Just look back at the 1931 Universal version and it is a masterclass in ham. Kenneth Branagh can usually be relied on to bring the ham and he doesn't dissapoint here. Many said that Robert De Niro was miscast as the Creature when he was first announced in the role, but he ended up being one of the best things in the film. You would have expected that John Cleese would end up giving a hammy performance when you see he is playing a mad doctor, but his performance is surprisingly subdued.

Unfortunately, the mixed reception to this film would end up putting the brakes on Branagh's career as a mainstream actor and director. That suited Branagh fine because he preferred theatre work any way. It wasn't until the success of Thor in 2011 that Branagh would be asked to direct blockbuster films again.

My rating: 3 stars.