The eighteenth-century English poet Samuel Taylor, once made a statement declaring, that anytime someone experiences a work of art, they must leave their ideas of reality at the door and see the work of art on its own merits – he called it 'the willing suspension of disbelief'. But unfortunately that statement can't be applied to Young Frankenstein; first of all it is not art! it is monstrosity with very little merits to its name, and because over the top performances, used to compensate for poor characters, a plot that often finds itself tripping over with its pants around its ankles and ultimately a movie with no real identity; is it a horror or is it a comedy? Well during the entire duration of the film, I neither jumped nor did I laugh, therefore it is neither and thus should be tossed in the bin! I'm not expecting another Casablanca or a Godfather, but at least have a plot line that makes sense.
Years after the famed exploits of a crazed doctor Frankenstein and his monster, his great, great grandson finds himself as a lecturer at a university also studying the human body funny enough, expect that is where the similarities end, because the great grandson played by Gene Wilder, wants nothing to do with his great Grandfather doggies dealings, so detaches himself from the infamous man by requesting that everyone refers to him as 'Dr.FrankenSTIEN'. But unluckily for him, he soon finds out that he inherited the Granddad's castle and he accepts and goes to the castle – wait! If the guy wants nothing to do with his grandfather, then why not turn down the inheritance? Then as he turns up to the castle, he finds a book with his uncles tricks of reanimation and repeats the experiments? Didn't the guy change his name slightly just to remove any attachment to his Grandfather, yet 10 seconds later he does the exact same thing?
The rest of the film barely deserves mention, but to cut a long story short; it is a lot of forced, contrived and unimaginative humour, which made me rather disappointed at Gene Wilder, especially when I love his other performances in Blazing Saddles and Charlie and the chocolate factory so much. Bad Gene, naughty step for you!
Years after the famed exploits of a crazed doctor Frankenstein and his monster, his great, great grandson finds himself as a lecturer at a university also studying the human body funny enough, expect that is where the similarities end, because the great grandson played by Gene Wilder, wants nothing to do with his great Grandfather doggies dealings, so detaches himself from the infamous man by requesting that everyone refers to him as 'Dr.FrankenSTIEN'. But unluckily for him, he soon finds out that he inherited the Granddad's castle and he accepts and goes to the castle – wait! If the guy wants nothing to do with his grandfather, then why not turn down the inheritance? Then as he turns up to the castle, he finds a book with his uncles tricks of reanimation and repeats the experiments? Didn't the guy change his name slightly just to remove any attachment to his Grandfather, yet 10 seconds later he does the exact same thing?
The rest of the film barely deserves mention, but to cut a long story short; it is a lot of forced, contrived and unimaginative humour, which made me rather disappointed at Gene Wilder, especially when I love his other performances in Blazing Saddles and Charlie and the chocolate factory so much. Bad Gene, naughty step for you!