Critical Movie Review

When I started the book, I expected it to be moderately mundane just like every other book we’ve read in english class. However, the book ended up being really interesting and the movie was almost as good. While the movie strays from the original storyline that follows Mr. Utterson, it still succeeds in portraying the uncontrollable evil of Mr. Hyde.

 

Negatives:

• Due to old technology, the movie fails to portray how Hyde was detestable just by his appearance. Mr. Hyde, in the movie, simply looks like his eyebrows and jaw grew in size. In the book Mr. Hyde supposedly had a hunched back and a myriad of warts on his face, but the movie fails to portray this level of evil in Hyde.
• In addition to a less effective portrayal of Hyde, the movie, because it was made so long ago, is not allowed to show any actual violence on screen. This caused me much confusion because I wasn’t sure what had happened when Hyde strangled Ivy. I wouldn’t have understood it if Mrs. Wiersig hadn’t have informed the class that we were supposed to assume that the woman was dead. Also, this “ethical censorship” takes away some of the tensity of the scene and causes it to be less dramatic.
• The movie does not show Dr. Jekyll’s inner struggle with his evil half as well as the book does. While the movie does show Jekyll’s unwillingness to become Hyde, it does not show Jekyll’s conversations with himself.
• The movie follows Hyde’s story directly, which takes away the suspense and mystery that the book possessed by having Mr. Utterson investigate the suspicious happenings within the city.

 

Positives:

• The movie may not follow the written story exactly, but it still tells the story in a unique way. Instead of following Mr. Utterson as he tries to find out the truth behind Mr. Hyde, the movie follows Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde directly. This form of storytelling removes a large portion of confusion that the book contained.
• The movie has an advantage over the book because cinematic movies are often more interesting than books. The movie is more captivating because it moves more quickly through the storyline than the book, while the book draws out the story with immense amounts of unnecessary dialogue.

 

Overall:

• I would rate this movie a 4/10. I choose this rating because it strays from the original story-line and is also very passive. To be an accurate representation of this horrifying story, it would have to be made in modern times with better graphics, less censorship, and color.

April 23, 2015