Top 10 Film of 2025
Frankenstein (2025) review
Guillermo del Toro’s long awaited Frankenstein adaptation is finally streaming on Netflix. Was it worth the wait?
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
Frankenstein
Directed by Guillermo del Toro
Screenplay by Guillermo del Toro
Starring Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Miia Goth, Christoph Waltz, Lars Mikkelsen, Felix Kammerer, David Bradley and Charles Dance
Frankenstein (2025) Review
Guillermo del Toro has talked about making Frankenstein for so long that we’ve had plenty of time to consider what it might look like. One of del Toro’s greatest influences is James Whale’s Bride of Frankenstein. As someone who considers that to be one of the best and most influential movies ever made…I’ve often wondered how much, if any, of Whale’s take on Mary Shelley’s story would find its way into a del Toro adaptation. I’ve long been of the opinion that Whale’s films had overridden Shelley’s novel as the definitive text. That may sound like sacrilege but consider for a moment what Frankenstein’s Monster looks like when you close your eyes. Is it the educated outcast of Shelley’s novel…or the misunderstood child of Whale’s films? You see Karloff’s face, don’t you? Even if you’ve never seen Whale’s films…you’ve seen Karloff’s face.
Guillermo del Toro has really seen Karloff’s face. He’s openly discussed how important Whale’s 1931 film was to his love of film…and monsters. It’s possible that he thinks even higher of Bride. As someone who adores the Whale films (particularly his sequel) the idea of a director of del Toro’s caliber tackling Shelley’s novel while his heart belongs to Whale’s movies was about as exciting a prospect as I could have. There were even early rumors that suggested he had included Bride’s standout character Doctor Septimus Pretorius in his new version…played by Christoph Waltz. That didn’t turn out to be true. A disappointment for the Pretorius heads out there. Waltz plays a character who funds Frankenstein’s work. He’s also the uncle of Elizabeth (Mia Goth) whose character arc is changed dramatically here…from both the novel and the Whale films. It’s not the only change he makes.
It turns out that del Toro never intended to update the Whale movies. He intended to challenge them as the new definitive text. To restore the depth of Shelley’s work with a few of his own spins to improve upon it. Sure, there is a bit of Colin Clive’s wild-eyed obsession in Oscar Isaac’s Frankenstein. But there’s even more of Kenneth Branagh’s underwhelming adaptation all around him. It’s unavoidable, of course. Both Branagh and del Toro are adapting Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. James Whale was adapting a play based on the novel. He then made a sequel that pulled on some strings excised from the original text…in a way that didn’t resemble them at all. That’s the trick with the Whale movies. They’ve been the best film version of Frankenstein for almost a hundred years. But they’ve never been good adaptations of Shelley’s book.
There’s a good reason for that. Something Branagh found out the hard way. A game-changing novel doesn’t automatically make for a good movie just because you film it. Branagh’s film casts an unwelcome shadow over del Toro’s movie from the start. Seeing the boat trapped in ice…the dying Frankenstein discovered by its crew…his Monster in pursuit. You can’t help but think about Branagh’s version. Because they both draw from the same material. Whale didn’t. Also, there are only so many ways to dress up the time period of the novel. Which means, despite everyone’s best efforts, Frankenstein (2025) is going to feel familiar. Whale’s felt like a revelation.
You may already be annoyed by the comparison. There’s also a good chance that you don’t agree with how it’s going so far. But it is clear while watching del Toro’s Frankenstein that he is wrestling with these things himself. Whale’s Frankenstein was a copy of a copy. It shared DNA with Shelley’s novel but was purposely something different. Bride was so different than that it may as well have been an original concept. As much as del Toro may revere those works…creating another copy of them probably wasn’t of interest to him. Creating the definitive film version of Shelley’s text, however…that probably interested him a lot. He pulls it off. It’s a success. Frankenstein (2025) is the best adaptation of Mary Shelley’s novel that has ever been committed to film. But it isn’t the best Frankenstein. That crown still belongs to Whale’s 1935 sequel. Whale, you see, was playing God. Guillermo del Toro plays Igor to Shelley’s Frankenstein.
Igor doesn’t appear in any of these adaptations btw. Not in Shelley’s novel, Whale’s films, Branagh’s movie or del Toro’s adaptation. But if I threw out a Fritz or Karl I can’t imagine anyone getting the reference. We all know Igor though. And isn’t that the point? Definitive texts change over time. There was no hunchbacked assistant in Shelley’s book. There was one in Whale’s 1931 movie…but he wasn’t named Igor. I genuinely don’t even know where Igor comes from. I know there was an Ygor in later Universal Monster movies. I know that he was played by Bela Lugosi. And I know it has nothing to do with any of the things we’re talking about here.
How do I know that Whale’s movies were on del Toro’s mind? Because he makes the same choices Bride does…albeit in different ways. One of the changes he implemented to Shelley’s story is giving the Monster (Jacob Elordi) agency over the telling of his journey. Instead of the entire film being told from Frankenstein’s perspective…The Monster takes over in the second half. It’s the right choice…and a narrative improvement. It’s also, largely, how Bride of Frankenstein operates. While Dr. Frankenstein is the point of view character for Shelley’s novel…and Whale’s first film…he takes on a more supporting role in Bride. Guillermo del Toro pulls the same trick in Frankenstein (2025). Frankenstein dominates the first half. The Monster leads the second.
Isaac and Elordi are excellent in their roles. I can’t imagine this version of the Monster will end up on lunchboxes and Halloween masks for the next century…but…that pesky definitive text problem. Isaac is electric when the moment calls for it. It’s a deeper character than Whale’s movies ever bothered to present. But some of the beats are straight out of those movies. While he has a more understandable reason for playing God…it’s his failure as a teacher that causes him the most problems. At times it’s darker than Clive went…and certainly more hands on in dealing with the Monster himself. The broken version of Frankenstein recalls where we find him in Bride. This version even allows a different version of the final peace between characters that Bride ends with.
As this is a Guillermo del Toro movie…it is very pretty to look at. Visuals impress throughout…although the Monster design takes a bit of getting used to. Definitive text…and all that. It’s been almost a hundred years since Whale’s movies, and it still feels strange when someone makes a more loyal adaptation of the Monster’s look and speech. It’s always, in a weird way, felt wrong. Which is funny given the choices are more in line with the novel. But the novel isn’t how we’ve seen the story, look and design of Frankenstein for a long, long time.
Frankenstein (2025) admirably attempts to change that. It’s stuck under the shadow of a few things (the novel, the 1931 film and its sequel, Branagh’s failed attempt at the same thing) but it manages to shine through more often than not. What’s really holding it back from achieving its ultimate goal of becoming the definitive text is…the Igor problem. The best version of someone else’s story can only partially belong to the person who makes it. James Whale likely didn’t care about any of that when he made his 1931 version. But its legend endures, and will continue to endure, because of what he did in 1935. He made it a mate. An original companion cobbled together from discarded pieces. Guillermo del Toro is admirably beholden to an idea. But it belongs to someone else.
Scare Value
If you’re looking for the best version of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein…it’s now streaming on Netflix. Guillermo del Toro’s waited a long time to bring his version of Shelley’s tale to life. It was worth the wait. Terrific performances, a few genuine narrative improvements, gorgeous visuals…it’s everything you want out of an adaptation of the material. One of our best filmmakers telling one of his favorite stories. I just wish he’d have shown more interest in making it his own…like the movies that inspired him in the first place.
4/5
Frankenstein (2025) Link
Streaming on Netflix
