Movie review
October 17, 2025 · 150 min · R
Woke Score
Lower is better
Review
Del Toro’s Frankenstein is a gorgeous gothic drama that sticks close to Shelley’s novel but leans hard into father-son trauma, cycles of abuse, and the Creature as a sympathetic outcast desperate for belonging. The Creature gets “defanged” — less monstrous, more victim seeking forgiveness — and female characters like Elizabeth feel more agentic and central. No race or gender swaps, no lectures on race/gender, no DEI marketing. It’s the usual del Toro empathy-for-monsters package: noticeable recurring “otherness” and anti-hubris vibes, but story-first, not sermon-first. Some right-leaning voices call it woke-lite trauma porn; progressives cheer the queer-coded belonging angle. Most viewers will clock the modern-feeling family-dysfu
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Frankenstein.
Woke representation / casting
Standard period casting; no swaps or diversity-first framing.
Woke political dialogue
Thematic critique of hubris and bad fathers, but no explicit modern politics.
Identity-driven story themes
Heavy emphasis on outcast trauma, belonging, and forgiveness — recurring and audience-visible.
Western institutional / cultural critique
Subtle digs at abusive authority (fathers, science playing God) but classic to the source.
Woke character or canon changes
Creature softened, more redemption-focused; Elizabeth elevated — noticed but not identity-driven.
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
Fringe mentions only; no major news or social storm.
Creator track record context
del Toro’s monster-sympathetic history raises the baseline.
Production
