Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

I have seen better adaptations of the famous story elsewhere(namely the 1931 Fredric March film), but this is not half bad at all. While not quite as good as Wind in the Willows, Peter Pan and Ivanhoe it is towards the better end of the spectrum for the Burbank Films Australia animations(much better than their versions of The Odyssey, The Three Musketeers, Prisoner of Zenda and 20000 Leagues Under the Sea anyhow). The animation does have some stiff character designs, but has some pleasing noir-ish elements that are very fitting in tone with the piece. The music is quite atmospheric, the writing injects bits of humour without it feeling out of place and the story is thrilling at least, even the additional characters don't take away from the scary parts and the ending was moving. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde are both well-realised and well-contrasted to one another, and the voice work is solid. Overall, not the best adaptation, but a very watchable one. 8/10 Bethany Cox