A movie I’ve been waiting for has finally made its debut digitally on Nov. 7, and that’s Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein”. Based on the well-known novel “Frankenstein,” written by Mary Shelley, which has inspired endless adaptations, I was eager to see what it was all about.

For the uninitiated, the specific film follows the journey of Victor Frankenstein, played by Oscar Isaac, who is driven by scientific madness. He has an obsession with bringing the dead back to life after witnessing his mother die from complications during child birth. By collecting the right deceased body parts and mixing science with a whole lot of electricity, Frankenstein births The Creation, portrayed by Jacob Elordi. 

While many remakes use pieces of Shelley’s original story and themes, few capture the intimacy and emotional weight prominent in the original story. And let’s be honest, nobody really wants another cliche, classic Frankenstein movie in 2025. With countless adaptations, it really feels like everything has already been said about the story.

However, after finishing the movie, I realized why Frankenstein has never truly gone away. There is something so timeless about the story. The novel can really speak to anyone in any time and place and director del Toro captured that essence beautifully.

Reading other people’s negative opinions about the movie surprised me, mainly because there were so many complaints around the plot not staying true to the novel. But to me, this movie was stunning because it mirrors not the plot but Shelley’s deep emotion and unsettling inner conflict that weaves through the pages.

As someone who really enjoyed the novel, the film was to me, a fabulous live adaptation for that reason.

The movie really highlights del Toro’s unforgettable craftsmanship. His dark imagination and his gift for storytelling make Frankenstein just incredibly haunting.

What I love so much about del Toro’s work is how he uses specific cinematic choices and pulls key elements from the novel as well as explores new motifs to invoke the emotion Shelley intended in her novel. 

The Power of Color: How del Toro Uses Cinematic Choice

Overall, the director’s use of color in his film is very intentional, mainly for symbolic purposes. 

The film opens in Farthermost North, 1857, an arctic setting where from the very start, del Toro leans into colors for the storytelling. In the setting, everything is bathed with grey, blue, and white hues, and most of the costumes throughout the film are also color-coded in a similar manner to evoke despair and isolation. During this period, Victor has taken refuge aboard Captain Anderson’s (played by Lars Mikkelsen) ship as he flees from The Creature who is trying to kill him. He feels completely hopeless, and the muted colors vividly reflect his emotional state.

However, the palette shifts as the perspective changes. Victor’s childhood memories appear primarily in white and black, symbolizing the contrast between innocence and eventual darkness. In his memories, red is also a prominent color that symbolizes the quest for immortality.

Furthermore, the color green symbolizes the creation of unnatural life. In the laboratory, where The Creature came to life, the colder green detail distinguishes itself from the warm tone of the manor. The color doesn’t just highlight the unnatural life but is symbolic of Victor’s scientific obsession. That’s why green appears more often in moments where Victor is conducting experiments. 

Colors such as gold, blue and white are important because they represent fragments of both Victor’s and The Creatures lives, illustrating their journey, and bringing it full circle in the end. 

The Creatures Character: What del Toro Pulls From the Original Novel

According to the Los Angeles Times, Elordi had only a few weeks to prepare for this role as it was originally meant for Andrew Garfield but, due to scheduling conflicts, Elordi stepped in and delivered a phenomenal performance.

What surprised me wasn’t the fact that it took up to ten hours to dress Elordi as The Creature (according to the People Magazine), but that del Toro stayed true to making him look beautifully scary, just like Shelley did in her novel. This iteration of The Creature is tall, lean and the scars etched across his body reflect the various bodies Victor used to assemble him.

Although I didn’t care whether the movie stayed entirely true to the original plot, I am certainly glad that del Toro kept The Creature’s appearance scary, yet beautiful, mirroring the essence of the character in Shelley’s novel.

Furthermore, The Creature spoke very little for at least half of the movie, highlighting his isolation. By limiting his dialogue, del Toro forces his audience to interpret The Creature’s emotion through his expressions and, most importantly, his eyes. The Creature’s eyes are a main physical characteristic that Shelley emphasizes in her novel. Frankenstein’s eyes are meant to convey humanity despite him being in monstrous form. The novel emphasizes the eyes as windows into The Creatures world, and Elordi couldn’t be more spot on with his acting to bring The Creature’s emotion to life.

Overall, The Creature captures Shelley’s characteristics of The Creature perfectly. 

Religious Motifs: New ideas del Toro Explores

When we first see Isaac’s Victor injured in the snow at the beginning of the film, this is the first of the film’s many religious visual motifs. Del Toro has long used Frankenstein as a lens to explore his faith. In a specific scene where Victor is being dragged by shipmates in agony, the deliberate imagery mirrors the countless paintings depicting Jesus after being taken down from the cross. This was intentional. As the film continues, numerous other depictions appear: the red cap on The Creature’s shoulders mirrors the crown of thorns, and The Creature is literally crucified with a wound on the right side, similar to Jesus after being pierced by the spear. It is also noteworthy that Victor says “it is done” after creating The Creature, paralleling God’s declaration “it is done” after creating the world.

While there are some religious themes in the novel, del Toro adds additional motifs that don’t appear in the original story. To me, the addition of such religious motifs enhance the moral and existential questions already present. It also connects back to one of the several themes of the novel, which are the consequences of obsessive ambition. In this case however, Victor’s greed and obsession result in the consequences of playing God.

So, why should you watch it?

Overall, this film had a lot of elements that made it one of the best adaptations of the classic novel. Although I wanted the well-developed character of The Creature to stay similar, I also wanted to draw away from the same plot run. This movie did exactly that. Del Toro truly used his imagination to the best of his abilities and created an adaptation that captures the heart of Shelley’s novel while reinventing the plot and experimenting with new motifs.

Whether you’ve read the original novel or not, this will be a movie I am definitely recommending to everyone.