Frankenstein

Year of release : 2004

Run time : 1h28m, 2 episodes

Genre : Gothic Sci Fi / Tv Mini Series / Horror

Cast : Alec Newman, Luke Goss, Donald Sutherland, Dan Stevens, William Hurt, Julie Delpy

The Hallmark mini series are based on Mary Shelley's 1818 novel "Frankenstein", and to this day, are considered to be the novel's most faithful adaptation.

While trapped in the North Pole's ice, captain Walton's ship rescues a man who was chasing another with a dog sled. On his death bed, the man tells the captain his name is Victor Frankenstein, and starts to tell him his life story.

Victor tells him how he was born in 1793, Geneva, Switzerland, to wealthy parents. While his father was teaching him to shoot (k1ll) animals he realized he wants to create life, not bring death.

His mother brings home an orphan girl, Elizabeth, that her family adopts and becomes best friends with Victor, and his other rich friend, Henry. And as they grow older, it's obvious Victor and Elizabeth love each other.

One day, as the family dog chases the carriage, he is k1lled, as he gets under the wheels. Victor becomes consumed with bringing it, and not only, back to life. One night, on a storm, he sees how the lightning strikes a tree, burning it, and comes to the conclusion its power which can split the tree in half, burning it to ashes, can also give life. He decides to become a doctor, and before he leaves for Ingolstadt, Germany, his mother gets sick and dies of scarlet fever. Henry comes with him to the university.

At the university, he is professor Waldman's number one fan, and the professor takes him under his wing, teaching him everything he knows,becoming his best student.

Seeing a dog getting under the wheels of a carriage, just like their dog, he takes it, and tries to bring it back to life (after he tried to bring frogs back to life) using electricity. He actually succeeds in bringing it back for a few seconds, but the dog eventually dies.

Elizabeth writes to him every week.

Victor is visiting the grave yard, trying to get a dead body, and even asks his professor to help him, but he refuses, saying bringing something dead back to life is unnatural,and he should think of consequences, as only God can give life.

Victor comes to the conclusion he needs "healthy" (non rotting) body parts from different corpses, and he creates one. One night, when a major storm takes place, he shocks it with the lightning's electricity, and the creature breathes life.

Victor is terrified by his creation and runs away, in the street, to the door of the church.

The creature wakes up, scared, takes Victor's journal,puts on his clothes, and runs away.

Victor gets sick from staying in the rain all night, and hallucinates the creature is after him.

The creature ends up in a village, from which people chase it out, for trying to get food. He hides in a family's barn, chopping their wood, and eating the food they leave outside for him. Seeing the couple making love, he realizes he wants somebody to love him too.

One day, talking to the daughter of the family in who's barn he hides, he ends up in the family's home, talking to the blind old man who plays the violin, and who offers him food. The couple get back from wherever they were, and freak out (I honestly didn't find the actor ugly, he actually became one of my favorites back in 2004, after I saw him in this movie!) and throw him out!

The creature read Victor's journal (I don't know how can it read or write, or even speak, to be honest!) and decides he's to blame for all his misery, and goes to his family's place, unwillingly k1lling his younger brother, and framing the maid he liked, because that was the creature's understanding of love!

The maid is h@nged for the murder of Victor's brother.

The creature finally gets to talk to Victor, and tells him he wants a companion. Victor, who moved back home, goes back to the university and starts assembling body parts.

 

I personally enjoyed the movie, especially the first part, as I didn't feel when time passed.

I liked the world they created, the places where they filmed, especially the villages, they were so beautiful!

I don't know if we were to empathize with the creature, but I didn't. Victor didn't abandon it, he just ran away,scared, when he saw it on top of him (as he fainted,probably hallucinating), and the creature, alone in the room, fled. It's not Victor's fault, he didn't throw it out. How people treat it after, again, it's not Victor's fault. How people treat you, is not who you are!Your choices make you who you are. The creature blames all its misfortune on Victor and decides to k1ll everyone he loves. And then complains Victor abandoned it, and doesn't love him. Well, no one would, under the circumstances!

One thing I didn't get was, how did the body parts not rot while he was working on putting the body together, considering he didn't have anything remotely similar to a fridge. He just kept the body on his table.

The acting was good, especially from the 2 leads, Alec Newman and Luke Goss. William Hurt spoke with a German accent, and was the only one who got the Frankenstein name right when he pronounced it.

The actor who played Victor's father was awful, he was always smiling, when his wife died, when his kid died, when Elizabeth died and he was screaming at Victor, he was trying to keep a straight face...Dan Stevens was pretty happy all the time too.

The soundtrack was good, I liked it.

The visual effects were good. The creature features consisted of makeup.

The series received positive reviews, the critics loving the fact they were a faithful adaptation to the novel.

The series won the Emmy award for Outstanding Makeup for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Non-Prosthetic).

You can watch the full part one here :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaJftrcR8IM

and part 2 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko8jBzUXsTE

Rating : Worth a watch !