Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: Movies or the Book?

Selay Koyuncu

6 years ago

I really love the novella Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It is an extraordinary book, and there are many movies and TV shows based on it. I have watched two movies adapted from the book, but both have been changed a lot by scriptwriters, so they could not fulfill my expectations. One of them is Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde, and the other one is Mary Reilly, and I prefer comparing Mary Reilly and the book.

First of all, Julia Roberts stars in the movie, and it is not about Dr. Jekyll but only about the maid girl. Dr. Jekyll lives in the same house, so sometimes we can see him. However, most of the time, Julia Roberts acts alone.

Additionally, we never see Jekyll’s lawyer, Mr. Utterson, who is the storyteller in the book. In the book, he does not mention maids many times; he talks about them in only a few parts. Also, in the movie, Edward Hyde is shown to us more; he is portrayed as a cowardly man who is fond of women. In contrast, in the book, Edward Hyde is fond of violence and does not care about anything, doing what he wants. In fact, I do not think Dr. Jekyll would fall in love with a maid who works for him, but the movie is based on this love. However, the end of the movie has not been changed too much. My favorite part is that I do not always like happy endings; sometimes we must be reminded that our actions have consequences, and they are not always good.

If I shot the movie, I would try to make it similar to the book as much as possible. Although the story has been written very wisely, there are some simple mistakes, and I would fix them if I were the author. For example, in chapter 4, a letter from Mr. Hyde arrives at Dr. Jekyll’s house. No one sees the postman; it appears all of a sudden, and you can easily guess that Dr. Jekyll sends the letter to himself. At that point in the story, you might even think he does it to protect Hyde. If I could change it, I would make him say that the letter was thrown to his front door and that he did not know when it arrived.

Overall, it is a great and engaging story that has inspired some movies. Even though there are many movies based on it, I think the book is better than all of them.