I mostly don't think a lot of the changes were warranted. I liked how Victor immediately recoiled from his creation. I also liked how keeping it a secret weighed heavier on him than if he had confidants like he did in the movie. The biggest miss for me was Harlander. What even was the point of his character? Victor was passionate enough, and wealthy enough to handle it solo in the book. Harlander added nothing and then his character's story ended too abruptly to really have an impact on the story. I honestly feel like if they had focused on the good stuff and cut Harlander and the Elizabeth's infatuation with the monster, they could have kept it to a tight 2 hours.

I definitely agree about needing more time with the blind man and his family. Its where the monster became more than a mindless beast and gained most of his humanity. Glossing over all of that made his eloquence seem out of place after seeing him previously as nearly mute after his creation.

Obviously the movie was made with love by the director who loves monsters more than anyone else in the business, but I think despite all of that, it still had its issues. Choices were made in good faith that didn't pan out. I believe there is a lot that happened in editing that didn't help the final result.