Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein” is a horror story like you’ve never seen before. Based on Mary Shelley’s 1818 gothic novel, del Toro artfully changes certain aspects of the story which make it feel new, even if one is deeply familiar with Shelley’s work.
Starring Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi as Victor Frankenstein and his monster (respectively), the film feels grand from its opening ‘Prelude.’ A Danish Navy ship is trapped in arctic ice as it treks towards the North Pole, only for crew members to discover the body of Victor bloodied and unconscious.
Soon, the ‘Creature’ is gorgeously wreaking havoc in the dark night air seeking its creator. Elordi’s physicality, though it is not fully shown until later, is evidently perfect for the role. Considering this with del Toro’s choice to light this action sequence primarily by torches, the opening has a fairytale quality few other films can execute so effectively.
At this point in the film as the audience is about to be shown Victor’s backstory and the main plot will begin, the movie’s visuals must be addressed. Despite there being limited CGI present as far as 2025 blockbusters, and even del Toro films, go, the film looks incorrect (for lack of a better word) frequently.
The film is full of practically designed sets which anybody could love, from the Danish ship, to Victor’s laboratory, one could go on. Yet the way scenes are lighted, edited and color graded gives the film a fake appearance, more so than what one would hope for in a film with over two and a half hours of runtime.
The movie is highly stylized in its color palette, editing and set design, yet one gets the feeling that a less frilly execution would have served del Toro’s story more. At a certain point, the antique clothing, decor and diction of the characters begins to feel incongruent with what is being shown on screen – a flashy, modern reinterpretation.
With these misgivings being said, Frankenstein is still a film you should watch if for nothing else but the performances. Isaac, Elordi, Mia Goth, Christoph Waltz and lesser known Felix Kammerer (as Victor’s younger brother) commit fully to the film’s ambience, with Goth and Waltz particularly making the film feel far more real than without their presences.
Regardless of what one may say about the film’s visual style, one would be hard pressed to simply stop watching the movie at any point. del Toro seamlessly transitions from set piece to set piece, emotion to emotion with the ease one could only expect from his 20+ year filmography. A master at work putting his passion project to the screen, Frankenstein is a uniquely beautiful take on the classic story of man creating life at any costs.
One cannot harshly criticize del Toro knowing his feelings about directing a Frankenstein adaptation as far back as 2016: “I dream I can make the greatest ‘Frankenstein’ ever, but then if you make it, you’ve made it. Whether it’s great or not, it’s done. You cannot dream about it anymore… You landed a 10 or you landed a 6.5 but you were at the Olympics already, and you were judged,” del Toro said.
