Our Movie Review: I, Frankenstein (2014)

Why we watched it: He wondered how they did the Frankenstein element

Our rating: 2 out of 5 stars

His review: It must be faint praise that my overriding thought about this movie was that “it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.” It wasn’t any more original in blending literary characters into a fantasy realm that others in a similar vein (Van Helsing or The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, for example), but it was fun. Heavy on the CGI, but good enough to not be distractingly fake. Acting was fine–lots of angry, serious faces. Action was appropriate; plot not so hole-ridden that it held together (except for the end, where taking out the main bad guy inexplicably takes down all his nefarious plans). I have a guilty pleasure with stories about angels and demons fighting; and make the angels big gargoyles, and I’m all in. So not great, not bad; not good enough to recommend, but not bad enough to avoid.

Her review:  That’s the rub, isn’t it? At least this movie wasn’t offensive, except at the very end when the Main Guy called himself Frankenstein. “His father’s son.” Um … okay, “Adam.” But here I am, expecting an action movie to be true to Mary Shelley. Oh, self.    The gargoyles were cool, and yes, decent CGI. I love Bill Nighy is always a welcome addition, though I much prefer in a Marigold Hotel. There was a palpable lack of chemistry between the two leads, especially if she was supposed to be responsible for him having a soul (is that a spoiler? I don’t know).  But yeah, at least it wasn’t terrible.  This is the equivalent of a shrug.