Young Frankenstein (Nicci) & A Forward (Anatole)

Hello! I’m Anatole, and I know I haven’t posted anything yet, but I’m still alive. Anyways, I just wanted to let you all (and by “you all”, I mean the one person who sometimes accidentally clicks our link) know that we will be doing several Halloween-Themed Reviews throughout the month of October. The first one here is by Nicolette, and it’s a nice 70’s throwback to Young Frankenstein. Enjoy, and watch for the next Halloween Review!

                                ~Love and wishes of Gene Wilder jokes to you.

                                Anatole Moreau

 

Young Frankenstein

By: Nicolette Karter

        Gene Wilder, you are a comic genius. If I could do so without getting arrested, I would totally hug you. So, everyone knows the story of Frankenstein & his monster, but Mel Brooks puts a comedic twist on it; and in black & white, which I think is really cool.

        So, it starts out with Dr. Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) getting news that his late grandfather (whose research made the family name infamous) has bestowed everything to him. But Dr. F (as he will be called) has forsaken the family name, even pronouncing it Frah-nk-en-sh-teen instead of saying it correctly, so he is obviously not too happy about this turn of events. But for me, this turn of events lead to some questions. Like, were there no other family members to give all the dead guys possessions to? Such as one that hasn’t deserted the family name? And even though Dr. F & his grandfather didn’t get along or agree on their studies (they’re both scientists), is Dr. F not even a little sad to learn his grandfather (& apparently only relative) is dead?

        Anyway, Dr. F reluctantly agrees to leave his fiancée Elizabeth (played by the hilarious Madeline Kahn) check out this castle & meets Igor (the sidekick/assistant), Inga (the hot, ditzy assistant), and Frau “Ovaltine” Blucher (the housekeeper). While there, he finds secret passageways that lead to a finding of Dr. F’s grandfather’s book with all of his research & secrets to reanimation. This is when Dr. F accepts that this work isn’t so bad, & he will now attempt to make a Frankenstein monster himself. After running into the weird Inspector Kemp while grave digging (which is illegal), & after Igor acquires the wrong brain for the monster, Dr. F does the whole “I’m insane & dramatic, yet funny while yelling up here getting struck by lightning during the reanimation of my monster” as only Gene Wilder can pull off.

        Once the monster is alive, Dr. F finds out Igor gave him an idiot brain instead of a genius, like he was asked to get. So, while he was getting cheered up, the monster gets loose & wreaks havoc on the town. While I love funny movies nowadays, and stupid, gross dirty jokes are funny, I sometimes miss the humor of this part of the film. It’s silly, yes, but throughout the film there are jokes that aren’t, for lack of a better phrase, “dumbass jokes” if you know what I mean. Just clean humor that everyone can enjoy. Yes, the movie has dirty and stupid and gross jokes, but not just those kinds, which I think is cool of Mel Brooks. All of his films (that I’ve seen) have a combination of all of types of jokes. I also like how this film is entirely in black & white, as I said earlier.

        So, after Dr. F, his team & his monster reconcile, everyone already hates the monster, so the team all decide to teach the monster things, like talking normally. This is so Dr. F can have his esteemed colleagues get a look at the monster in a good light, & this will happen via musical number. This is a perfect example of that clean humor I was talking about. I love Gene Wilder, & I guess everyone else involved because this movie is fantastic. And perfect for a funny Halloween movie night.