23 April, 2015

I didn’t expect much from the movie, and I that’s almost exactly what I got.

 

Negatives:

 

• The opening scene doesn’t introduce all the characters needed to fully open the movie to its potential. The lack of important characters who don’t come into play until later, if at all- like Mr. Utterson and Dr. Lanyon- prevent the movie from exploiting all it could offer.

• The focus that is put on romance and a single girl is a deterrent. It takes away from the original plot. Beatrice and Ivy take the place of Mr. Utterson, who added the majority sense of suspense to the plot in the novel and was one of the main characters.

• The final scene in the movie completely lacks the meaning of the books. Jekyll’s suicide was meant to leave the audience with a sense of mystery (Is Hyde really gone for good? Is the evil really destroyed?), and the fact that Jekyll chose to die by his own hand so as to prevent himself from facing the consequences of his foolish experiment. The movie completely lacks the meaning and minimizes the impact and meaning behind his death.

 

Positives:

 

• The opening scene allows Dr. Jekyll’s mission and intentions to be fully explained. It really sets the mood of suspense.
• The addition of Ivy allows the reader to fully understand the nastiness of Mr. Hyde. With the way Hyde treats her, the audience can see his true cruelness and evilness.
• The final scene allows the audience a final sense of excitement and closure. It’s a pretty good way to end a movie like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

 

Overall:

 

• A decent showing of the book, but it could be better.