I don't really understand the very good ratings for this film. Of course, as a film, it was quite good. The actor playing Jekyll was gorgeous and had a lot of charisma, the special effects were good for the time, and there were some interesting shots. Overall it was classy. However, I really loved the book and I am bitterly disappointed by this adaptation. I am not the kind of person who trashes a film adaptation just because they made a few changes to the book, because I think they can be necessary, but I don't like it when they make changes that alter completely the essence of the story. I hate the fact that they had to include so many women, and that in short, the whole film seems to imply Jekyll's main motivation was lust : his "fall" is partly provoked by the fact that he can't marry quickly and have sex with his bride, and when he becomes Hyde, the only thing he seems to be interested in is raping this poor woman. I also hated the way they changed the ending, I thought it was completely unnecessary and took away all the subtlety out of it.
What I find really puzzling, is the fact that people always seem to trash recent film adaptations of literary masterpieces, supposedly because they betray the story by altering the original material. And yet, the more I look at older adaptations, the more I realize that usually they are a lot more unfaithful than the recent ones. They often change the plots completely and most of the time it truly alters the essence of the story. Still, these films are held in high esteem, and no one seems to notice that the flaws they denounce in new films are even more present in the old ones.
What I find really puzzling, is the fact that people always seem to trash recent film adaptations of literary masterpieces, supposedly because they betray the story by altering the original material. And yet, the more I look at older adaptations, the more I realize that usually they are a lot more unfaithful than the recent ones. They often change the plots completely and most of the time it truly alters the essence of the story. Still, these films are held in high esteem, and no one seems to notice that the flaws they denounce in new films are even more present in the old ones.