I recall watching this on TNT (I think it was TNT) when released and thinking that it was pretty good. I don't think I had seen it since. I'm glad that we watched it again, because it really is quite an excellent telling of the tale. Even Kenneth Branagh, who I don't really like, fit perfectly. Normally I find him just a little too self-absorbed. In this case, that's exactly what was needed. He directed as well, and did a fine job.
Meanwhile, the always excellent Robert de Niro ably filled the body of the creature and actually gave the role some life. Uh, so to speak.
For those who aren't familiar with the tale, Victor Frankenstein has gone to university to study medicine, only to become obsessed with bestowing life on dead tissue, because his own mother died in childbirth. Unfortunately his own brilliance becomes his downfall, as he spirals into the world of his own making, and when he does create this life, it is to see his own life fall apart around him.
Once created, the creature is abandoned. Victor, believing his creation a failure, returns to his life of luxury, while the creature ekes out a living and begins to learn. First to talk, then to read. Eventually he finds that man is too caught up in looks, and despite his kind and understanding heart, his freakish outside does him in, and he is once again cast out. This leads the creature to seek out his creator, and once found, he demands a mate that he will take to the ends of the earth, leaving the world of man forever.
Victor gets caught up in his own creation again, only to find that the creature is a man of his word, and instead of ridding himself of his creation, Victor is consumed by it, losing his fiancee and then his entire house. Finally they chase one another to the end of the world, where both are consumed. A classic tale, well told in all respects.
Rated R for horrific images (which apparently means the made-up naked form of Mr. de Niro's backside, mostly covered with stitches and the like), this probably isn't for the younger set. But without any adult situations, and really without even any gruesome images (there is one scene where the creature rips a heart out of a live person), it's not that bad, you can be the judge of this one.
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