"... the wickedness of my promise burst upon me; I shuddered to think that future ages might curse me as their pest"

“. . . the companions of our childhood always possess a certain power over our minds which hardly any later friend can obtain.”
  --Mary Shelley
 
Being slightly addicted to the Frankenstein mythos, I was pleasantly surprised to find a copy of Frankenstein(2004)* starring (to use the term loosely) William Hurt (disguised as a Old German Professor) and Donald Sutherland (pretty much as Donald Sutherland).
It was pretty close to the bottom of the barrel. They opted to ignore the cinematic Frankenstein, and adhere to the book,or at least those parts of the book you could glean from five minutes with Coles Notes.

Entirely missing the main plot of responsibility and Victor Frankenstein's general moral crappiness, they pasted in a lifeless romance and too much time significantly focusing on carvings of Christ.
Apparently they had learned nothing from watching Dracula 2000(2000)**

Also they killed two dogs on screen, a bad move when you consider how many dog lovers watch movies. Quick fact: Even Darth Vader killed no dogs onscreen.

The Creature was a tad emo, but the only person worth watching in the entire flick. Played by Luke Goss, who as played Prince Peeved from Hellboy 2.  He blew Robert de Niro's Frankenstein out of the water, who was my gold standard for 'realistic' Creatures: Karloff, of course tops the list of the 'unrealistic'.

I would like to see a 'realistic' version of Frankenstein done where they didn't crib sets and scenes from half-assed Jane Austen clones.
But they again. I'd like to see a version of Frankenstein as filmed by Alfred Hitchcock, maybe on that set with the huge roof beams.

Or better yet, a version of Frankenstein where Percy Blysshe Shelley played Victor Frankenstein, and Byron the Creature; and poor overshadowed Polidori as Clerval.***
It wouldn't be true to form, but it would be damned interesting.




* Not to be confused with the other Frankenstein(2004), Frankenstein(1994), Frankenstein(2007), Frankenstein(1992),  Frankenstein(1984), Frankenstein(1987), and of course, Frankenstein(1931).
EDIT: Also, Frankenstein(1910), which I managed to forget.

**Not to be confused with...oh, you get the picture.

***Under no circumstances would Mary be  Elizabeth. That would be way to obvious. Professor Krempe, perhaps.