In assembling the 1990 TV-movie version of
Jekyll and Hyde, writer/director
David Wickes recycled many of the elements of his 1988 adaptation of
Jack the Ripper--including props, costumes, sets, and star
Michael Caine.
Caine goes through the standard motions as kindly Henry Jekyll, who dabbles where Men Must Not and unleashes his beastly alter ego Mr. Hyde. Anything new here? Well, the character of Dr. Lanyon, Jekyll's best friend in the original
Robert Louis Stevenson story, has been rewritten as his worst enemy.
Joss Ackland plays the vitriolic Lanyon, while
Cheryl Ladd shows up as a newly fabricated love interest.
Jekyll and Hyde has some neat makeup transformations, but otherwise is just the same old cloak 'n' fang jazz seen in so many earlier incarnations of the venerable Stevenson yarn. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide