Movies you PRAY they never remake

The one with Kenneth Branagh & Robert DeNiro (1994) was one of the most faithful adaptations to the book.
Only one problem... the book isn't very good (at least, not by today's standards).

Is it the mother of science fiction? Yeah, it has that honor, but as a read it's pretty dull despite the cool topic of reanimating dead tissue and creating a patchwork man out of corpses.

It's "science fiction" yet there's very little science in it. Before reading the book I anticipated in-depth chapters about Victor's experiments, his assembling the creature and bringing it to life - but all that interesting stuff is mostly glossed over.

Another drawback is there is no real protaganist in the story - no one to root for. Unlike the movies, the creature is not a tragic yet sympathetic figure - rather, he's a wanton killer of innocents. And his creator is no prize either (no wonder they hate each other).

The only part of the book that really grabbed me was the part where the creature learns language from a family he's spying on while hiding out in their shed.

My Thoughts: A very young Meryl Streep won both an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Leading Role. She deserved it! Her performance in this movie is nothing short of miraculous. She transforms herself through vocal accent, facial and body language into Sophie, a Polish concentration camp survivor with a dark secret. This is one of the great acting performances and Meryl Streep is the reason to watch this movie. The only reason actually.

Kevin Kline...this was his first theatrical release movie. He's good and engaging, too much so! Every single time he's off on one of his angry rants, he bulldozes the other quieter performers which doesn't work for the flow of the film. This is about Sophie, much more than Kline's character. Kline needed to be instructed by the director not to steal the scenes, but he does over and over again, overshadowing the other two characters.

Peter MacNicol...character, 'Stingo', is the focal point of the story, he does the voice over narration too, which reminded me of John-Boy in The Waltons. He's the weak part of the movie and has got to be the worst casting mistake I've ever seen. He has zero screen presences and is not even worthy of being a bit character in the movie. Had the casting director choose a more suitable actor, Sophie's Choice might have been a better film.

However, nothing can save the story which takes two and half hours to unfold...with little happening on the screen. The film drags and that's too bad because the story concept is a powerful one...and Meryl's performance certainly deserved a top notch film to be showcased in.