Excellent telling of Bram Stoker's novel.

Rating: 8/10 (17 December 2006)

Dracula starts in Transylvania during 1462 where Count Dracula (Gary Oldman) goes to battle, hearing of Dracula's death his bride Elisabeta (Winona Ryder) commits suicide. However Dracula wasn't dead & upon hearing of Elisabeta's suicide he renounces God... Jump forward to 'London 1897, Four Centuries Later' where Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves) is instructed to travel to Transylvania to conclude the sale of Carfax Abbey in London to Count Dracula who is now a member of the blood drinking undead, Harker has to leave behind his fiancé Mina Murry (Winona Ryder again) but does so & sets off. Once there Dracula imprisons Harker in his castle under the control of his Vampire Brides (Monica Bellucci, Michaela Bercu & Florina Kendrick) & travels himself to London where he meets Harker's fiancé Mina whom he believes is the reincarnation of his bride Elisabeta. Dracula drinks he blood of Mina's friend Lucy Westenra (Sadie Frost) & her doctor Jack Seward (Richard E. Grant) calls in professor Abraham Van Helsing (Anthony Hopkins) who quickly realises that they are dealing with a Vampire & that they are in great danger...
Co-produced & directed by Francis Ford Coppola this is maybe the greatest adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel ever committed to celluloid, in my opinion anyway. The script by James V. Hart probably sticks to original source material more closely than any other screen version of Dracula I've seen, apparently this is the first time the Texan character of Quincey Morris (Bill Campbell) appears in any screen version & the climactic chase through the Carpathian mountains where Van Helsing uses the psychic Mina to track Dracula. It also changes a few things as one would expect since film & literature are two very different mediums & to keep Dracula himself at the forefront of the story he makes Mina the reincarnation of his dead wife & turns the story into a sensuous romantic tale which works very well. I think all the character's are great, I liked then dialogue, I liked the story & the way it moves along & I liked the back-story given to Dracula although I have to say at over two hours in length it's a touch long even though I can't really think of anything I'd like to see less of.
Director Coppola does a magnificent job here, I recently saw John Badham's 1979 Dracula & really liked that with it's immaculate & precise period production design which seems very historically accurate. An approach Coppola's Dracula ignores in favour of a wonderful Gothic comic book look & feel, it's very extravagant & wild as the filmmakers lets their imagination's run riot & as a result it's a joy to watch. A lot of time & effort went into the look of this film with fantastic production values, the sets, the costumes, the decor & the cinematography is all style & visual flair plus there's a great dark sexuality running through the film as well. I was impressed. There's not much in the way of gore, there are a few decapitations, a cool close up on a slashed throat & a bit of blood but little else.
With a supposed budget of about $40,000,000 Dracula is technically brilliant apart from some truly terrible model shots, it's got a tremendous style to it & it is very well made. The acting varies, Ryder lets the cast down with a timid & forgettable performance, Oldman makes for a decent Dracula, Reeves is miscast as Harker while Hopkins overacts somewhat as Van Helsing & Grant as Dr. Seward is somewhat underused.
Dracula is probably the best version of the tale I've seen on the screen, I don't think there's anything I didn't like about it other than it was a bit long. It stays close to the original novel, it looks terrific, it has a good cast & it makes for good entertainment. Definitely recommended.