The Island of Dr. Moreau (Unrated Director's Cut)
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Movie Reviews of The Island of Dr. Moreau (Unrated Director's Cut)
Movie Review: Just when I thought that the 1st one couldn't get worse..
Summary: 1 Stars
..I sat down and watched this. I couldn't believe all the critics hated it and it was rated in the top 10 worst films of that year by all of them. Saddly, I found out that they were right. This is amazingly bad. I just don't know how you can go from pre-production to post and still produced vomit like this.Movie Review: very interesting adaptation
Summary: 4 Stars
It is sad and fascinating that so many reviewers could not only not enjoy this interesting adaptation of the Wells novel but were upset!! It probably depends on what one got out of the original novel. Wells wrote a tragedy and this film underscores that folly is at the root of both tragedy and comedy.
Moreau plays God in his dream of engineering a super race. But he is imperfect and his creatures are only thinking beasts. Thus he must theatrically play God to them in order to control his failures. This is a metaphor for the human condition and it is a disturbing fact to face that whether or not there is a God, religion has always been used by elites to control people.
Moreau has trapped himself in a tragedy which is an absurdity. It is a kind of maddness that might be portrayed as horror, or tragedy, or comedy. This film tries to put them all together, which is very interesting, but will not work for everyone and might just seem confusing, and then all the technical flaws pop out -- but I only take off one star for them.
I give it four stars for being interesting and for some memorable performances. Trapped in this mad mess and in isolation Brando and Kilmer that they were led to by their idealism they have gone off the deep end and have become transformed from men of science into characters totally involved in their dream gone mad. Right, you can't tell that Kilmer was ever a brilliant neurologist -- that is the point. That is the horror, he has become a comical character.
There is a bit of this is Bridge on the River Kwai. Guinness is so swept up in his dream of showing British "can do" that he forgets he is helping the enemy. He is a tragic figure, but one can almost laugh and say "what is that clown doing" as he inspires his men to build the bridge. Harrison Ford in Mosquito Coast similarly is a tragic/comic person in pursuing his dreams.
If you follow the concept of the film closely, Brando and Kilmer and this film do a better job at mixing the tragic and the comic. And the film is an opportunity to think about broader social and historical issues if one is so inclined, though not so much about human nature per se as the above. Of course not everyone is!! If the world we live in sometimes seem mad, to what extent is this because it is so much the product of grand dreams gone sour? A lot, if you think about it.
It is often said that Wells wrote science fiction, serious literature that is, not escapist science fantasy. Moreau is sort of the Frankenstein theme, which is a serious one, but with religion thrown in, which added newer layers.
Movie Review: Quick and to the point
Summary: 3 Stars
No movie is going to be a direct representation of the novel on which it is based. This doesn't include basic steps to modernize the film so that it makes a better connection with the viewer. The basic Wells story is here with some modern upgrades, but some of the elements of this story are a little distracting.
Some of the actors were made for the role. Marlon Brando was becoming more and more reclusive around the time of the film. This quiriness fits the character of Doctor Moreau prefectly. It is if he was made for the role. Val Kilmer is a talented actor, but I am not sure he really fits this picture. He does a fabulous Marlon Brando impersonation, but his quick role seemed more of a distraction to the film. The other actors move the movie along, but none really stand out.
The movie is quick. By the time we get into the film, it's over. Having read the book, this didn't bother me too much. I don't know if someone unfamiliar with the story would have been engaged enough to follow. Also, the movie was so quick, that I really didn't see when the character of Mr. Douglas felt a connection with the beast-men. This was a little distracting.
Taken as a whole, the movie was a good tale about humanity and our own inner animal. Looking at this as a philosophical tale about humanity, I found it entertaining.
Movie Review: MARVELOUS MISFIRE
Summary: 3 Stars
THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU is one of those really botched films that is so fascinating in its ineptitude, it's actually quite fun. Marlon Brando who utilized short wave radio to help him remember his lines is in fine campy form as the mad Dr. Moreau who experiments with animals to make a perfect human being. He is aided by the sadistic and nearly mad Val Kilmer, obviously having fun playing such a twisted role. David Thewlis who hated the movie and refused to see the finished product looks appropriately befuddled as the sole survivor of an airplane crash that is brought to the island for his DNA--to prevent Brando's lovely daughter (Faizura Balk) from regressing into her feline stage.
The makeup from wizard Stan Winston is pretty effective and the movie's "message" is clear: man is already half animal. While achieving status as sort of a camp classic, DR. MOREAU is a strange and guilty pleasure.
Movie Review: Sci-Fi Trash
Summary: 2 Stars
Well, I can't say that the storyline of the Dr. Moreau flicks is bad, it's an interesting blend of scientific and horrific. The 70's version of the film is actually pretty good. This update adds some more color to the characters, and some more advanced makeup and better visual effects. Well, if it weren't for the poor script this might be a worthwhile film. The movie starts off with an interesting naration, but 2/3 characters are killed after about 30 seconds and we never get to know them or care about them, which isn't good. They should've started it off in the airplane instead of the exact same way the 70's version started. Also, the editing of this movie is probably the worst I have ever seen of any film. The best example of this is a scene that ends with Dr. Moreau saying "Tomorrow we will have a trial" and the next scene shows the main character trying to escape on a boat and being threantened, not attacked, by BADLY animated mutant rats. The next scene is the trial, and the rats never show up in the movie again and are never mentioned by anyone. Who had the brains to do that? There are plenty of other examples, but see for yourself. I'm not sure about this unrated director's cut, but I doubt it can save this mess. There are scenes that cut to a completely different location involving the same characters that seemingly pop up there in no time. The movie doesn't make any sense, and there isn't enough development of, say, oh, DR. MOREAU. He is the title character isn't he? Well, he gets killed off way too early, and it's just not satisfying as he has no real defining roll in the climax of the film. I can't say you shouldn't see this, it's a little interesting to see editing and writing's negative effects on a movie if you don't know what I'm talking about, but if you don't want to see a bad movie, don't see this.