Guillermo Del Toro’s “Frankenstein” – Review

How many times can a book or story be adapted before we begin to grow weary of it? What is it about certain stories that makes them stay with us, enduring long after their creators’ lifespans? Some stories are timeless because of their themes and concerns, others survive because they offer rich experimentation and opportunity in the act of adaptation. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, first published in 1818, has had phenomenal staying power in popular culture, which literally hundreds of versions across all possible mediums.

As a life-long fan of Shelley’s work and its derivatives, as well as a big fan of Guillermo del Toro, this film was highly anticipated. Frankenstein is a endlessly malleable source material, and in del Toro’s hands it becomes a moving story of generational trauma and the power to forgive. Although those seeking a book-accurate version of the story (which has already been made) won’t find that here, the emotions and power of the novel are on display, in the hands of someone who clearly loves the book.

Maintaining the opening in the frozen wastes of the Arctic that few adaptations include, the film introduces us to Captain Anderson, who’s ship has become trapped in the ice. His crew happen upon a badly injured Baron Victor Frankenstein and…