Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1986)
First, we make it to the 80’s, and while there is probably a live adaptation around, the animated version caught my eye. Phelous hilariously reviewed it years ago, so it warranted a re-watch. In the movie, one of Dr. Henry Jekyll’s old maids recounts the events to kids she’s watching over. Dr. Jekyll creates the serum that ends up bringing out brings out his darker self named Edward Hyde. He ends up leading a double life. As Hyde, he makes a mess of things and even goes all “Jack the Ripper” on some folk. His friends, Utterson and Lanyon, notice that something’s off with him. As things get worse and worse, Dr. Jekyll tries to find a way to stop Hyde from coming back.
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| This was one hilarious reaction. |
While the movie isn’t really good, I do like the effort made into it. This is possibly the first adaptation that feels close to the novella. There is no love interest, Utterson (who’s basically the main character in the novella) has a major role, and we even get a few quoted lines from the book. Yeah, they turn Hyde into a two-bit Jack the Ripper (he only killed one person in the book), but I guess this children’s story needed some more edge.
The animation was okay at best. Hyde himself look alright. They
definitely went with a more monstrous version of the character. By the way,
this has a really funky intro. It’s even funkier than what we got with Dr.
Black and Mr. Hyde. On the negative side, it is a bit short, but this is a
children’s special. Some animation can be a little cheap, and some of the voice
acting isn’t that great. Overall, it’s an okay special and probably the closest
adaption I’ve seen for the story.
Mary Reilly
Now, this 1996 feature is a different kind of Jekyll/Hyde
movie. Mary Reilly was initially a novel that used the original story as a
backdrop to a romance. It stars Julia Roberts as Mary Reilly and has John Malkovich
in the dual role of Jekyll and Hyde. Mary is a maid in the services of Dr.
Henry Jekyll. She ends up forming a rapport with the doctor. Things change when
Jekyll enlists the assistance of a protégé named Edward Hyde. Hyde is pretty
aggressive with everyone and harasses Mary. Even though she’s repulsed by Hyde,
she’s kind attracted to him as well. Mary is basically a witness to the events
of the novella including its ending.
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| Where's the king of Rohan when you need him? Grima Wormtoungue is back at it again! |
I can see why this movie was panned and had a low box office return. While I can see promise, this was a far from a good movie. On the plus side, this also feels close to the novella in terms of its feel. The original story was essentially a gothic horror, after all. The costuming felt right. Even though I wasn’t the biggest fan of Malkovich’s performance, he looked good for the role. His Jekyll seemed kind and humble while his Hyde was aggressive and creepy. Hyde here wasn’t a monster on the outside which is something I’ve noticed with some modern adaptations. He basically looked like a somewhat buff Grima Wormtounge from The Two Towers.
As for my negatives, I thought both leads were kinda poor. I
don’t know what was up with Julia Roberts’ accent here. It was all over the
place. While I do get they were going for someone who was gloomier in the role,
I just wasn’t a fan of ‘ole Mary. The same kinda goes for John Malkovich in both
roles. He had this dullness in both roles. He felt more active in the Hyde
role, but I just couldn’t buy it completely. I also couldn’t buy their
“romance” if you could call it that. It could also be a bit dull overall. In the
end, it was pretty below average, but I can applaud the attempt.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (2008)
Next, we have a modern adaptation from ‘ole Canada. We have Dougray Scott from Northern Exposure (and almost Wolverine!) in the dual role. In the movie, Dr. Henry Jekyll is an accomplished doctor living with a terrible secret in Boston, MA. Because of experiments into splitting his good and evil natures, his evil self, Edward Hyde takes over and commits a spree of crimes. While trying to find a cure, he enlists the help of a lawyer to basically get him locked up before Hyde does more damage. Claire, the lawyer, is skeptical, but helps him out and does her best to defend him when he is ultimately arrested for these murders.
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| Hmm... I don't know if I could see him teaming up with Patrick Stewart and ogling Famke Jansen. |
And I was beginning to think that Mary Reilly was almost my
least favorite one. This made-for-TV movie was pretty lackluster, but it does
have a few pros. I did think that Dougray Scott did a fine job in both roles.
They play with it a little differently with Jekyll basically having DID
(Dissociative Identity Disorder) with Hyde is basically just a darker, crazed
version of him. They try to play it up as a bit of a mystery, but it doesn’t
succeed at that well. The acting from everyone is okay, and I did like that
they tried to go for a courtroom drama towards the end.
Other than those things, this was a bit of a bore. They
pretty much go into Hyde right away and that was a weird move. While I think
Dougray Scott was fine, his Hyde was bit much at times. There’s a romance
subplot between him and Claire that felt out of place. It’s probably why
Utterson (who’s an artist here) isn’t the lawyer for the story. The writing
surrounding the court proceedings wasn’t that good. I also thought that the
ending was kinda predictable and lame. Overall, it was just a dull retelling of
the story that doesn’t add anything that interesting.
Jekyll and Hyde (2021)
Finally, I found a pretty recent adaptation on Tubi which
has quite a few adaptations that I may watch in my off time. This movie has
actors that are pretty much unknowns to me. Still, we have Tom Hendryk as
Gabriel Utterson, Michael McKell as Dr. Jekyll, Helen Crevel as Sarah Utterson,
and Mark Topping as Inspector Newcombe. In the movie, we follow Utterson as he
tries to investigate the death of Henry Jekyll… yeah. That happens here! Jekyll
apparently committed acts of murder before he died, so Utterson and his wife
try to clear his name of any wrongdoing. It turns out that someone by the name
of Edward Hyde has been doing these dastardly acts. There’s also another twist
with the story in that… well, that would be spoiling a pretty lackluster
adaptation of--- it’s his twin brother, okay?
So, while I might be able to give it some points for originality (LOL), this was a poor adaptation of the story. I will say that it does have some points. It does stick to being a mystery in the same manner the novella was. It also has Utterson in the lead role, and I did like him and his wife here. It’s almost like someone wanted to throw Clark Kent and Lois Lane in a horror story because they both come off like that. I also thought McKell was fine as Jekyll and Hyde even though we barely see either of them in here.
Other than these things, this was kinda crap. It could be
pretty slow at times. This might have also followed the tone of the novella too
closely in that we barely saw any of Jekyll or Hyde. Heck, Hyde was literally
stuck at the end in order to kept that weird twist in. There was no serum that
brings out the darkness in a man, just a twisted backstory featuring two twin
brothers and a horrible father. While it might make for an interesting drama,
it doesn’t help here. We also got Hyde as Jack the Ripper… again. It also felt
cheaply made in places with some horrible crap stock images for the outside
transitions. In the end, this was a dull one… but it might beat that 2008
adaptation in a couple of places.
…………………………………………….
Overall, it got pretty bleak with modern Jekyll/Hyde takes,
didn’t it? Hopefully, the story got a better treatment with other movies and TV
shows because these were okay at best. I did start watching an older one
starring Jack Palance that might be good, but I want to hold off the
Jekyll/Hyde adaptations for a while. Maybe I’ll go down this rabbit hole again.
Anyway, I’m off. Until then, Peace God Bless, and be careful out there.
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