with De Niro [as the Creature] so much I'm tempted to give Mary Shelley's Frankenstein a favorable verdict. But it's a near miss. The Creature is on target, but the rest of the film is so frantic, so manic, it doesn't pause to be sure its effects are registered". Janet Maslin wrote: "Branagh is in over his head. He displays neither the technical finesse to handle a big, visually ambitious film nor the insight to develop a stirring new version of this story. Instead, this is a bland, no-fault Frankenstein for the '90s, short on villainy but loaded with the tragically misunderstood. Even the Creature (Robert De Niro), an aesthetically challenged loner with a father who rejected him, would make a dandy guest on any daytime television talk show". Conversely, James Berardinelli of Reelviews.net gave the film three out of four stars: "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein may not be the definitive version of the 1818 novel, and the director likely attempted more than is practical for a two-hour film, but overambition is preferable to the alternative, especially if it results—as in this case—in something more substantial than Hollywood's typical, fitfully entertaining fluff". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale. Box office In the U.S. and Canada, the film grossed $22,006,296, with the opening weekend of $11,212,889 making up more than half of its total. The film opened the same day in the United Kingdom and Ireland and grossed £2 million in its opening week from 320 screens. Outside the U.S., it grossed $90 million, bringing the worldwide gross to $112 million. Year-end lists 3rd worst – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone 9th worst – Janet Maslin, The New York Times Accolades Video game A video game adaptation based on the film was released on numerous home video game consoles in 1994. A themed pinball machine was released in 1995 by Sega Pinball; it is one of the machines included in the video pinball simulator The Pinball Arcade. See also Frankenstein in popular culture List of films featuring Frankenstein's monster Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), a similar adaptation from Coppola References External links Frankenstein films 1994 films 1994 horror films 1990s science fiction horror films American science fiction horror films American Zoetrope films Films directed by Kenneth Branagh Films produced by Francis Ford Coppola Films with screenplays by Frank Darabont Films based on