As a direct descendant of Robert Stevenson (the grandfather of Robert Louis Stevenson), I tend to take a very critical view of movie adaptations of the books written by my ancestral cousin. To my surprise – although I have generally little time for Video movies – this one is very good. True, there are a few lapses here and there, and a couple of the minor support players are more decorative than charismatic, but the principals, particularly Mark Redfield (who also directed) and Ellie Torrez are superb. In fact, my only complaint against the film as a whole is that the movie could stand just a little bit of trimming. 109 minutes is far too long. Everyone in the audience knows the conclusion, so there is no need to draw it out, as is deliberately done here. The problem is that when it comes to his own scenes, director Redfield is obviously biased. In fact, I've never yet met an actor or actress who complained that their roles were too large. On the contrary, they always complain that their roles were too small, and that the maladroit idiots who directed their movies cut some of their best scenes!
Review of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
