Has the word of the novel (more or less) but not the spirit

Rating: 7/10 (27 June 2006)

The problem I think with this version of the story is that although for a lot of the story it keeps faithful to the book, it seems to lack the spirit of the novel, something the 1958 version with Christopher Lee captured perfectly.
Having said that, the film has a lot going for it in other areas. Gary Oldman was suitably creepy as Dracula and Anthony Hopkins was nice and eccentric. The cast in general were a pretty good choice, with one glaring exception. I really wanted Keanu Reeves to pull this off and if he were to take the role on now, perhaps he might manage, but as it is, most of the criticism is unfortunately justified. He seemed to have only one facial expression the whole time and his attempt at an English accent was at times truly awful. Sadie Frost was exceptionally hot as Lucy and Winona Ryder, unlike Mr Reeves, pulls off an English accent that is spot on.
Visually the movie was stunning, with the proper atmosphere being evoked when necessary. Especially effective was the use of the red sky at the beginning of the film when Jonathan is in the train. However, I found one or two of the scenes in the castle somewhat confusing, such as when Jonathan is trying to escape and is seen to be edging along a ledge with what appears to be a great yawning chasm below him. He reaches a corner and then appears to fall sideways rather than downwards. Of course it could all have done that way to add to the mind bending effect and I'm just too slow to get it.
As I said before, the script for the most part has the word of the novel but doesn't seem to capture the spirit. There isn't really a sense of relief at the end when our heroes win and in fact the entire movie is relentlessly grim. However, all praise must go the scriptwriters for finally having written a version that has Quincy Morris, a character all too often ignored.
Probably the most horrific moment in the whole movie is when Dracula produces a baby for his brides to feed on.
By the way, Quincy/Arthur must have the strongest terrier dogs in the world. When they all chasing Dracula and the gypsies at the end, our heroes are on their horses, galloping like mad, and yet in several shots, the terriers can be seen keeping pace with the horses and hardly breaking a sweat.
I think overall the positives outweigh the negatives and you should see this film.