A Very Good, But Not Great Film Of Dracula

Rating: 8/10 (20 November 2003)

Bram Stoker's Dracula by Francis Ford Coppola is a very good, but not great film. It's supposedly the best film version that conveys the novel's original story. There are several weaknesses in the film. First of all, the casting of Hopkins, who is normally good in everything, isn't quite right. Secondly, this is not one of Winona Ryder's strongest roles to date either. Her Mina is vulnerable, but not fully realized. Her accent wasn't very good either. In fact, few of the accents in the film were good. I don't consider Ryder compelling enough as a woman to convince me that Dracula would choose her as his eternal bride either, although the nymphet look was in during the Victorian Era. Thirdly, Keanu Reeves is not good at all as Jonathan Harker and he even seems silly at times. The story lags just a little at times too, but at over 2 hours long, that can happen even in good films. That being said, the film has many things to highly recommend it too. The star performance of Gary Oldman as the Count is magnificent indeed, but I felt that the tinted glasses catered to a young demographic movie audience, instead of adding anything to the character. Sadie Frost was quite good, releasing a lot of raw sexual power and energy as Lucy. The production itself is the real star of the film here. The cinematography is lush; the costumes (won an Oscar) are lavish; the makeup (won an Oscar) on Oldman is great; the music is hypnotic; the sound is crisp; the sound and visual effects are stunning. Think of the recent Sleepy Hollow and From Hell, and you can imagine the sumptuous production values that this film contains. The story is mostly familiar, even if you have never read the book; because, it contains many of the same scenes from previous Dracula films. Yet this one interweaves a religious motivation for the Count's search and portrays him as a horrific, but tragically sympathetic figure. This is a great date movie for sure. Look for Monica Bellucci as one of Dracula's three brides and what looks like Charlie Sheen on the sidewalk, tipping his hat, during the scene where Winona Ryder (Mina) first meets Dracula (Gary Oldman). *** of 4 stars.