The Inevitable Frankenstein Reboots Are On Their Way
In all honesty, "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein," Kenneth Branagh's 1994 "adaptation" of the novel, is one of the worst big-budget Hollywood movies we've ever seen, extravagantly misguided in a way that only truly talented people can produce. Nathan Rabin of The Onion A/V Club has the definitive takedown of the film, though we think we can do just as good a job taking it down by simply showing this picture.
It's odd that Frankenstein would retain much cultural relevance today. The theme of "man playing God" -- the central idea of Mary Shelley's book -- is more applicable to stories about robots and Skynet than it is to Victor Frankenstein messing around with dead bodies and old brains; at this point, Victor's science just seems sloppy and shoddy. Real brains? Victor, we don't need real brains anymore; plug your iPhone in between those neck bolts, and you've got yourself a sentient, hyperintelligent being.
Nevertheless, with Abraham Lincoln fighting vampires, "Oz: The Great and Powerful" and Battleships sinking each other, there was no way we were going to avoid The Brand Called Frankenstein returning. Thus, "several Frankenflicks," as Deadline's Michael Fleming put it yesterday. The closest to fruition is "The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein," about "the youthful days of Frankenstein, who begins experimenting with corpses," which sounds like fun for the whole family, but there are a bunch more. The real reason, Fleming speculates, is not because Frankenstein is particularly popular, or even that strong of a brand name: It's because Mary Shelley's novel is in the public domain, so no one has to pay a dime to secure the rights.
By the way, because there was no chance we were getting through a Frankenstein post without saying this: Fire Bad!
