A slow, ponderous piece of celluloid.

Rating: 5/10 (29 April 2008)

Zzzzzz ... zzzzzzz ... zzzzzzz ....... oh, the movie's still on (yawn) ... zzzzzzz ... zzzzzzz ....... Oh, the movie's still on. I'm going back to sleep (yawn) .... What an incredibly slow and boring movie. Interminable talking. The movie attempts to take the Dracula story in a new direction and gets lost on the way. A simple, straightforward story is made into a convoluted, complex melodrama. After Bela Lugosi, who else can really play Dracula? Gary Oldman gives a good performance of Dracula ... in slow motion. It's not his fault, it's the material he has to work with. Dracula is an overpowering force but in this movie he is a more introspective, almost human character, still powerful, still menacing, but somehow in this movie not nearly as shocking as previous versions of the movie. The movie does have its moments but all in all it's a slow, ponderous, dull, plodding piece of celluloid.
Beware of a movie that relies on narration to tell a story. Case in point: this movie. Don't talk it, show it.