Though we’ve seen skillions of werewolf movies over the decades, 1941’s The Wolf Man probably remains the definitive take on the topic. For a formal remake of that classic, we head to 2010’s The Wolfman.

Set in the late 19th century, stage actor Lawrence Talbot (Benicio Del Toro) returns home to his estranged family in the remote English village of Blackmoor after his brother Ben (Simon Merrells) goes missing. Led there by Ben’s fiancée Gwen Conliffe (Emily Blunt), he awkwardly reunites with father Sir John (Anthony Hopkins) and learns that they discovered Ben’s corpse soon before his arrival.

Distraught, Lawrence attempts to learn what happened to Ben. This leads him down a dangerous path that may or may not lead to his transformation into a lycanthrope.

Spoiler alert? I would hope not, as a werewolf movie without a werewolf wouldn’t seem to make sense.

While the 2010 film portends to remake the 1941 flick, don’t expect a literal reworking here. While the two share character names, themes and concepts, they diverge in a number of ways.

For instance, take Gwen. In the 1941 edition, Gwen exists as a local shop owner with whom Larry falls in love. While the 1941 Gwen has a fiancé, it’s not Larry’s dead brother.

The stories evolve in different ways as well. Still, the two share more than a few similarities, so unlike the 1999 Mummy, one can’t claim that the 2010 version simply reuses the basic notion.

I admit I never loved the 1941 Wolf Man. It offers a good example of the Universal Classic Monsters but not one of my favorites.

That meant the remake enjoyed ample room for improvement, and with director Joe Johnston behind the camera, I hoped it would deliver. The man who made exciting adventures like The Rocketeer and Captain America: The First Avenger, Johnston felt like a good choice for the tale.

Unfortunately, Johnston finds little ability to turn this into either a thrilling or scary tale. Under Johnston’s supervision, we get a story with no real personality or point.

The deviations from the 1941 film make little sense and feel gratuitous. Wolfman wants to offer a psychological thriller but it lacks depth.

On the surface, this inward character concentration feels like it could create a compelling narrative. However, the mix of introspection and horror violence doesn’t blend well and feels both superficial and dull.

The movie’s computer graphics allows it to offer more werewolf variety than the original movie. Unfortunately, the effects feel no more convincing than the practical elements in 1941 and these can seem goofy and distracting.

Add some silly character choices and Wolfman goes nowhere. It just feels slow and tedious, without real terror or suspense.

The Wolfman appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became a good but not exceptional presentation.

For the most part, sharpness seemed satisfying. However, occasional instances of mild softness arose, and those created small distractions at times.

Neither moiré effects nor jagged edges cropped up here, and I saw no edge haloes. Print flaws remained absent.

Wolfman went with a heavily teal palette, along with ample dollops of amber. Within those constraints, the hues seemed well-reproduced.

Blacks were pretty deep and dense, while shadows appeared mostly smooth, though some murkiness occasionally arose. This turned into a pleasing image, even if it didn’t dazzle.

With plenty of action on display via the movie’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack, all the channels received a good workout. Music demonstrated appealing presence, while effects manifested from logical spots and blended together nicely as well.

Audio quality satisfied, with speech that appeared concise and natural. Music seemed full and lush as well.

Effects boasted solid clarity and accuracy, with fine low-end along the way. This turned into a more than satisfactory soundtrack.

The disc includes both the film’s theatrical version (1:42:25) as well as an unrated cut (1:59:05). What does that extra 17 minutes provide?

Some of the extra footage comes from extended scenes, but plenty of unique bits appear as well. For instance, “Unrated” allows Lawrence and Gwen to meet much earlier, and we also get an intriguing sequence on a train between Lawrence and a mysterious stranger played by Max Von Sydow.

Of course, we get more graphic violence as well. The “Unrated” cut feels like the superior one, even if the additions mean some odd continuity issues at times.

As we look at the set’s extras, U-Control provides two domains. “Take Control” delivers occasional branching video that mixes shots from the set and comments from creature designer Rick Baker, cinematographer Shelly Johnson and visual effects producer Karen Murphy.

Across “Take”, we get trivia as well as notes about sets and locations, photography, cast and performances, and various visual effects. Some good material appears but the format seems clunky.

“Legacy, Legend and Lore” brings a mix of picture-in-picture material, text and narration links the 2010 film to its 1941 predecessor as well as other horror flicks. Like “Take”, it comes with some worthwhile notes, but “Lore” also feels too spotty to prosper.

A standard text trivia track would’ve worked better. That seems especially true because “Lore” makes it impossible to watch the movie and follow it in a blended manner.

In addition to two Alternate Endings (7:58), we find five Deleted/Extended Scenes (11:17). The “Endings” follow the same path as the actual finale except they cap the movie in different – and darker – ways, especially for the second one.

As for the various “Scenes”, they add some exposition and character material along with a bit more violence. None of them seem especially memorable.

Featurettes follow, and Return of The Wolfman lasts 12 minutes, 20 seconds. It offers notes from director Joe Johnston, writer David Self, producer Scott Stuber, and actors Hugo Weaving, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro.

“Return” examines the 1941 and its adaptation, story/characters, cast and performances, and themes. A few decent notes emerge but much of “Return” feels superficial.

The Beast Maker runs 12 minutes, five seconds and features Baker, Stuber, Del Toro, Johnston, Hopkins, creature effects creative supervisor Dave Elsey, fabrication and hair supervisor Lou Elsey, and production designer Rick Heinrichs.

Here we learn about the design and execution of the movie’s werewolves. Like the disc’s other pieces, this one offers some information but it tends too much toward happy talk.

Next comes Transformation Secrets, a 15-minute, 15-second piece with info from Johnston, Murphy, visual effects supervisor Steven Begg, digital effects supervisors Arundi Asregadoo and Gary Brozenich, cyberscan technician Sean Varney, and digital effects supervisor Adam Valdez.

As expected, we cover visual effects here, with an emphasis on the shots in which human becomes werewolf. While maybe the best featurette here, “Secrets” nonetheless focuses more on fluff than I’d prefer, so expect another spotty reel.

Finally, The Wolfman Unleashed spans eight minutes, 45 seconds and brings statements from Johnston, Stuber, Del Toro, Baker, Hopkins, stunt coordinator Steve Dent, stunt double Spencer Wilding, fight coordinator CC Smiff, action unit director Vic Armstrong, assistant art director Richard Selway, and special effects supervisor Paul Corbould.

“Unleashed” examines stunts and action. Anticipate another moderately informative but somewhat puffy piece.

As an update on a horror classic, The Wolfman fails to improve on its predecessor. Dull and ponderous, the movie becomes a lackluster bore. The Blu-ray brings pretty positive picture and audio with a largely superficial mix of bonus materials. Don’t expect much from this flat remake.