--- title: "Frankenstein: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/frankenstein/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/frankenstein" critics_score: 81 critics_reviews: 7 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Frankenstein (2025): what the critics said Critics' score 81 from 7 reviews: 7 positive, 0 mixed, 0 negative. Most critics like it, and the praise clusters in two places: Jacob Elordi’s creature and the look of the film. Reviewers describe the production design as lavish, operatic and gaudily gothic, and nearly all of them call Elordi’s performance sympathetic and the reason the film works. Oscar Isaac’s Victor is praised almost as often, Mia Goth less so. Del Toro’s fidelity to Shelley, with his own additions on fathers, sons and outcasts, is widely welcomed. The reservations are consistent too. Several reviews find the film long and slow, with a busy first half and a final act that feels rushed or scattered, and a few complain that romance and melodrama crowd out the horror. The spread is fairly narrow. The Financial Times is the clearest dissenter, calling it overstuffed and seriously flawed, and The Independent finds it formally accomplished but short on emotional charge. Nobody dismisses it outright. ## Radio Times Rating ★★★★★. 30 August 2025. Del Toro delivers what may be the definitive screen version of Shelley's novel, a gory and glorious two-and-a-half-hour love letter filled with tangible invention, beautiful craft, and heartbreaking performances from Isaac and Elordi. It is one of the most beautifully made films of the year. [Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movies/frankenstein-review-2025-guillermo-del-toro/) ## The Telegraph Rating 4/5. 17 October 2025. The critic praises Jacob Elordi's magnetically charismatic performance as the monster, which makes one feel sympathy for the devil in this cranked-to-11 creature feature. [Read the review](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/reviews/frankenstein-guillermo-del-toro/) ## Time Out — John Bleasdale Rating 4/5. 29 August 2025. Festival review. Del Toro brings Mary Shelley's creature to glorious, gaudy gothic life in a bombastic and sublime film that is loud, emotional, and sympathetic to its misunderstood monster. The production is spectacular and the performances, especially Isaac's, are superb. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/frankenstein-review-2025) ## Empire — Jamie Graham 13 October 2025. The critic lauds del Toro’s painstaking artistry, elegant creature design and the film’s huge beating heart as a stitched-together Gothic romanticism that balances fairy tale, fantasy and body-horror. Faithfulness to the source with personal thematic additions is praised. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/frankenstein-2025/) ## Financial Times — Danny Leigh Rating ★★★☆☆. 16 October 2025. The critic calls it a well-meant but seriously flawed and overstuffed passion project that emphasises emotional scars in the doctor-creature relationship. The monster's mournful truth is singled out for praise amid morbid high jinks. [Read the review](https://www.ft.com/content/ba492c18-8fa0-422d-9ece-80ea9f928187) ## Screen Daily 30 August 2025. Festival review. Del Toro's operatic adaptation works best at its most grand and emotional, with superb turns from Isaac and Elordi as Victor and the creature. It is a handsome, passionate Gothic melodrama that triumphs in spectacle and theme even if it sometimes favors grand gestures over nuance. [Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/frankenstein-review-oscar-isaac-and-jacob-elordi-spark-in-guillermo-del-toros-operatic-adaptation/5208188.article) ## Sight and Sound 11 September 2025. Festival review. Del Toro's lavish adaptation is a grand gothic fairytale that understands the story as a cautionary tale about poor parenting, with strong performances from Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi. It is visceral and melodramatic, though it occasionally veers toward the silly while staying sincere. [Read the review](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/frankenstein-guillermo-del-toros-creation-plays-like-grand-gothic-fairytale) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw 30 August 2025. Festival review. The critic finds del Toro's version a bombastic but watchable stately melodrama with distinctive luxurious visuals that sometimes impede horror energy. The shift to the creature's point of view is singled out as an ingenious jolt of life. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/aug/30/frankenstein-review-guillermo-del-toro-oscar-isaac-jacob-elordi) ## The Hollywood Reporter — David Rooney 30 August 2025. Festival review. Del Toro delivers a sumptuous, emotionally charged retelling that emphasizes tragedy, romance, and philosophical reflection over straight horror, with revelatory performances from Oscar Isaac and especially Jacob Elordi as the Creature. [Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/frankenstein-review-oscar-isaac-jacob-elordi-netflix-1236351926/) ## The Independent — Geoffrey Macnab 6 November 2025. Festival review. The critic finds del Toro’s adaptation visually stunning and formally masterful but ultimately thematically lacking and short on emotional voltage. Elordi’s sympathetic Creature and the production design are singled out amid complaints of romanticism over horror. [Read the review](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/frankenstein-review-guillermo-del-toro-venice-b2816625.html) ## The i Paper — Christina Newland 17 October 2025. The critic praises the film as a powerfully entertaining and emotionally resonant retelling that mines rich vulnerability from the familiar story. Performances by Isaac, Elordi and Goth, along with striking visuals and thematic depth on suffering and creation, are highlighted. [Read the review](https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/guillermo-del-toro-frankenstein-profound-passionate-3978950) ## The New York Times — Alissa Wilkinson Rating Critic's Pick. 16 October 2025. The critic calls del Toro’s adaptation the movie he was born to make, praising its lush, romantic, and emotional take on the story of fathers, sons, and outcasts. She highlights how the film stays true to Shelley’s themes while infusing del Toro’s signature fingerprints of pathos and strange beauty. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/movies/frankenstein-review.html) ## Total Film — Jane Crowther 30 August 2025. The critic calls the film a masterfully concocted and pertinent adaptation that is classy if somewhat safe, with awards potential. Ravishing production design and thematic relevance are praised, while the leisurely pace and fidelity to the book are noted as drawbacks. [Read the review](https://gamesradar.com/entertainment/sci-fi-movies/frankenstein-review) ## Vulture 7 November 2025. Festival review. The first half feels busy and lifeless, but Jacob Elordi’s Creature breathes soul into the film; del Toro fills it with his obsessions in a technically masterful, passionate adaptation that feels like the work of a true madman. [Read the review](https://www.vulture.com/article/review-jacob-elordi-is-the-soul-of-gdts-frankenstein.html) ## Deadline — Pete Hammond Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 30 August 2025. Festival review. Del Toro’s adaptation is a fascinating and thoughtful tale on what it means to be human and who is really the monster. The critic singles out the grand, operatic intensity of the creation sequence along with the exceptional score and old-fashioned visuals. [Read the review](https://deadline.com/2025/08/frankenstein-review-guillermo-del-toro-1236500792/) ## Polygon — Oli Welsh Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 18 October 2025. Jacob Elordi delivers a standout sympathetic and attractive performance as the creature in this gothic adaptation that emphasizes romantic melodrama over horror, though supporting human characters are overshadowed. [Read the review](https://www.polygon.com/frankenstein-netflix-guillermo-del-toro-jacob-elordi-hot-monster/) ## Collider — Ross Bonaime Rating 7/10. 9 September 2025. Festival review. The film is a visually stunning passion project with strong empathy in Jacob Elordi's creature performance, but suffers from uneven pacing and an overly long runtime that makes it exhausting. [Read the review](https://collider.com/frankenstein-2025-review-guillermo-del-toro-jacob-elordi-oscar-isaac/) ## Den of Geek — Joe George Rating 3.5/5. 6 November 2025. Del Toro’s Frankenstein is a lush, empathetic take on Shelley’s story that feels uniquely his, with strong performances especially from Jacob Elordi as the tender Creature and Mia Goth as Elizabeth. The film excels in its visuals and monster design but feels rushed and thematically scattered in its final act. [Read the review](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/frankenstein-review-guillermo-del-toro/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/frankenstein.md