Dracula Movie Critique – Besson’s Passionate Revamp of the Gothic Classic is Ridiculous but Entertaining

Maybe interest is limited for an updated adaptation of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro for polished extravagance. Still, it’s worth noting: his lavishly upholstered vampire romance has ambition and panache – and with its B-movie charm, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer over Robert Eggers’s recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. Odd details emerge, like a particular moment that looks like it presents a territorial boundary between France and Romania.

The Veteran Actor as a Clever but Weary Priest Tracking the Undead

Christoph Waltz embodies a witty yet careworn cleric fighting vampires – it’s surprising he never took on this character previously – who ends up in Paris in 1889 during the centennial of the French Revolution. The same goes for the sinister Dracula, played by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones using a distorted Eastern European tone reminiscent of Carell’s Gru character from the Despicable Me comedies. This character that he too was born to take on.

The Story: A Chronicle of Longing

Here’s the premise: Dracula has wandered endlessly the earth in torment for hundreds of years following his rise as one of the undead, a punishment for his faithless sorrow following the loss of his beloved Elisabeta (a first film part for Zoë Bleu, the offspring of Rosanna Arquette). The count has looked tirelessly for a lady who would be the return of his deceased partner. As ill fortune would have it, the fortunate female turns out to be Mina (also Bleu, of course), the modest betrothed of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (enacted by Ewens Abid), who has recently been to the vampire’s estate to discuss his land assets and whose miniature portrait of the winsome Mina drew the vampire’s attention.

Besson’s Direction and Humorous Style

Besson structures Dracula’s middle-section history of global roaming in various outrageous costumes skillfully, and he willingly includes offering humorous scenes reminiscent of Mel Brooks – for example Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to commit suicide post-Elisabeta’s demise, in addition to absurd moments that result after Dracula sprays himself using a particular scent in historic Florence, which causes him to be compelling to the opposite sex. Absurd yet engaging.

Dracula is on digital platforms starting December 1st and for physical purchase from 22 December. It plays in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.