4/22/15

The novel, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, was a unique and interesting book. However, there were many parts that, I believe, could have been more entertaining. In the same way, the movie version of the book was just as thrilling, but like the novel, could have room for improvement.

Negatives

• The movie begins in Chapter 10 of the novel, which can lead someone who has read the book, like me, confused about the director’s vision.
• The transformation from Dr. Jekyll into Mr. Hyde, in my opinion, was extremely weird and frankly uncomfortable to watch. I know that it was supposed to be an unnatural change among Dr. Jekyll, like the book described, but I felt ‘out of place’ while watching that particular scene.
• Stevenson was able to express the transformation better than the director because of emphasis of how odd and misshapen Mr. Hyde was.
• In the movie, Dr. Jekyll was killed by Dr. Lanyon to save others from the horrific two-sided man. However, I felt that in the novel, when Dr. Jekyll killed himself to escape the empowering Mr. Hyde, the scene was more powerful and effective than Lanyon shooting him.

Positives

• Both the director and Stevenson depict what they believe true evil is. They both show their vision by making Mr. Hyde evil in the same way, but different as well.
• The director decided not to put Mr. Utterson in the movie, which allowed people to see Dr. Jekyll’s point of view, which I thought pulled in more viewers because of the different perspective.

Overall, I believe, that the movie was worth watching, but if I had the choice, I wouldn’t watch it again. Stevenson just grasped the idea better than the director, which was more entertaining than the movie. As a result, I would read the book again to feel the thrill and fright of Mr. Hyde.