Last night I watched Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, directed and starring Kenneth Branagh. Robert De Niro is billed at the star, but it seems all Branagh's show.

I saw this many years ago and didn't like it. After seeing it again, I still don't like it. There's so much promise in this movie it upsets me that it turns out bad. I love Frankenstein and to have De Niro play Frankenstein's monster sounds like an amazing idea. And De Niro is pretty good in the movie. He brought a human quality to it, both good and evil aspects. It's a shame he's not in the movie much. I would have loved more scenes where Dr. Frankenstein sits and talks with his monster. What I'd like would stray from Mary Shelly's novel, but this movie needed something.

Branagh's performance is okay, but there are times when nothing really makes sense. For example, right after he's worked so hard to create life, he quickly, without any explanation, changes his mind and wants his monster dead. Why? Don't tell us, but show us. But I would have settled for a little telling. Find a way to illustrate the internal conflict we have to assume happened.

Perhaps there were a lot of things shot but had to be edited out. The build up of Dr. Frankenstein was lengthy and very enjoyable. That made it hard to understand his sudden about face. The second half of the movie seemed short compared to the first.

I don't want to sound like the movie is crap. It's not. The other actors all seemed believable and did their parts well. And another things that really bothered me is something I guess nitpicky, Branagh's beard. There was a lot of attention to detail in the movie but his beard. I find it hard to believe that through all the good times and bad times of Dr. Frankenstein that he had time to perfectly trim his beard, the likes of which look very... electric razor done.

But what do I know? Right after I finished watching the movie, I turned the channel and started to watch Warlock starring Julian Sands and Lori Singer. I enjoyed Warlock more than Branagh's Frankenstein. "Hear me when I say he's evil."

  ¶ 4:33 PM