One could easily question the logic in making yet another screen version of Shelley's novel. There have been some great Frankenstein films (Bride of Frankenstein being the high point) and some truly abysmal ones (see my review of Frankenstein Island ), but one way or another, hasn't the subject been exhausted?

Apparently not.

It is the late 1700's and we are introduced to Victor Frankenstein (Branaugh), his family, and his young cousin Elizabeth (Carter) who has come to live with the Frankensteins following the deaths of her parents. Victor's mother dies giving birth to his brother William which inspires Victor to put an end to death once and for all. He leaves Geneva for the University of Ingolstadt to study medicine, but not before promising to marry Elizabeth upon his return.

The university is not what Victor had hoped it would be. His teachers are a closed minded lot, and they'll have nothing to do with Frankenstein's radical notions. The sole exception to this rule is Professor Waldman (Monty Python's Cleese, who handles this dramatic role with the same skill and talent he lends to his brilliant comedic performances). Waldman has dabbled in the same forbidden areas of knowledge that interest Victor. He brings Victor and his friend Henry Clerval (Hulce from Amadeus and National Lampoon's Animal House) to his private laboratory where he demonstrates one of his successes: an ape's arm that reanimates when voltage is applied.

Victor decides to carry on Waldman's experiments by creating a man from dead body parts. When Waldman is murdered, Victor decides to use the professor's brain in his creation, as well as the head of the man who killed him (Deniro, who also plays the creature). In a spectacular laboratory sequence, Frankenstein manages to reanimate the patchwork man, but upon seeing the creature's horrible visage realizes the atrocity he has committed. He flees Ingolstadt and returns to Geneva in hopes of putting his life back on track.

The newborn creature is left to discover the world on his own. He is attacked by angry mobs and flees into the wilderness. He has a brief time of happiness when he anonymously helps a young farmer and his family, but even this ends tragically. It soon becomes clear that Victor Frankenstein's greatest sin was not in daring to play God, but in abandoning his newborn creation. The creature realizes this and seeks revenge on the man who brought him into this miserable existence.

Despite the implications of the title, there are portions of the film that are not taken from the novel, most notably the details surrounding the creation of the female creature. This emotionally charged scene makes so much sense, though, I dare say Shelley should have included it.

Since the Boris Karloff version of the creature has long been considered the definitive performance, comparisons to Deniro's portrayal seem inevitable. The primary difference between the two is that Karloff played a sympathetic monster while Deniro plays a man. The creature's pain, rage, and vengeance all take on new depth when we see that he is a thinking person, not a mute, mindless brute.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is a classy production in every respect, and in this writer's humble opinion it takes its place amongst the best of the Frankenstein films.