Frankenstein (2025) – Review

Quick thoughts:

1. After bringing monsters to life for 30+ years, it’s nice knowing that director Guillermo del Toro finally (he’s wanted to make this movie for decades) got the chance to bring his Frankenstein movie to life. 
2. Del Toro uses every cent of the $120 million budget (thank you, Netflix) to create a gorgeous world.
3. It’s another Frankenstein movie….
4. Jacob Elordi is excellent.
5. Yes, humans are the bad guys. I love how GdT added in elements that made humans even worse than in the novel

After Cronos, The Devil’s Backbone, Mimic, Blade 2, Hellboy 1 & 2, Pan’s Labyrinth, Pacific Rim, The Shape of Water, Crimson Peak, Nightmare Alley, and Pinocchio, director Guillermo del Toro has proven to the world multiple times that he loves monsters. The 61-year-old Oscar-winning director has always loved movie monsters and he’s spent the last 50 years thinking about Frankenstein and his monstrous creation. In addition to dreaming about the creature for decades, he’s spent the last 25 years attempting to get his adaptation of the Mary Shelley-penned Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus made. I’m sure he would’ve directed it back in 2000, but the good thing to come from the multiple delays is that he’s built up so much industry goodwill that Netflix gave him $120 million to craft his visual feast. After 25 years of script refinement and detailed drawings/storyboards, it’s a good investment because they knew del Toro would dedicate every fiber of his being to the project. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio won Netflix the Best Animated Feature Film award at the 2023 Academy Awards, so with Frankenstein, they’re hoping to add to their Oscars tally. 

Since it’s a Guillermo del Toro film, don’t expect the monster to be monstrous; instead, be ready for another “humans are bad” narrative that appears in most of his films (it’s not a bad thing; all directors have familiar themes). In this adaptation, del Toro invents new storylines to make Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Issac) seem like more of a jerk, and he eschews most of the horror elements so he could focus on “the lineage of familial pain.” If you’re looking for a Pacific Rim-esque tale of Frankenstein’s monster smashing things, you’ll be disappointed. 

In GdT’s version, we learn how and why a “rock star genius” like Victor Frankenstein became an abusive parent to a hulking monster. The answer is Charles Dance (the ultimate TV/movie bad dad), who plays the stern and abusive Baron Leopold Frankenstein. As soon as Dance appears on screen, it is obvious he’s going to mess up Victor’s life. When Baron Leopold isn’t hitting Victor with wooden sticks, he’s failing to keep his wife Claire (Mia Goth) alive during an early pregnancy. After his mom dies, Victor becomes obsessed with evading death via science, and his experiments put him in the crosshairs of Henrich Harlander (Christoph Waltz), a wealthy arms dealer who works with Victor’s brother William (Lars Mikkelsen). Funded by Harlander, Victor builds a massive laboratory, cobbles together various body parts, and creates an impossible-to-kill creature (Jacob Elordi) that he promptly tries to kill because having a kid is a lot of work. 

At its core, the tale of Victor Frankenstein creating life has always been about how hard it is to raise a child, so it makes sense that del Toro would dedicate a large chunk of the film to explaining why Victor is such a bad dad. The brilliant and handsome Victor wasn’t equipped to be a parent, and that’s why he abandons his creation. The problem is that instead of abandoning a newborn baby, he leaves behind a monster who is impossible to kill and can push giant boats through ice (he could probably be an Avenger). This causes problems for Victor as he’s hunted by his creation with tragic results. Much like Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (which focuses on a magical child being separated from his dad), Frankenstein is gorgeous to look at and feels very much like a Guillermo del Toro monster movie. 

Oscar Issac is perfect as a “Byronian rock star” who never buttons up his shirt all the way and looks like he’s about to play a show in front of 75,000 people (Isaac studied Prince’s 2007 Super Bowl show for added swagger). Isaac is simultaneously cocky, intelligent, insecure, and a little bit like his creator character from Ex-Machina. Jacob Elordi steals the show as “the creature.” His physicality, emotive eyes, and tall frame make the creature’s journey from “trusting fawn to rageful beast” feel 100% believable. It’s impressive that he was able to find the creature’s humanity underneath hours of makeup. As always, Mia Goth and Christoph Waltz deliver solid performances, but the true hero of the story is del Toro. 

Del Toro’s love of the project must’ve been infectious because the cinematography, production design, costume design and musical score are beautiful. One of the benefits of having a well-prepared director is that all the major crew members had time to craft expansive sets and memorable costumes.

Final Thoughts – It makes me very happy that del Toro got to climb his personal Mount Everest,