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: There is no pain, there is no law!
Summary: 1 Stars
Horrible, yucky, and riddled with imperfections only begin to scratch the surface of possible words to describe this film. From the opening scene until the very end this film was doomed because of one insurmountable flaw, the actors and director just didn't care. There is a point in a film when you can literally look into someone's eyes to see if they are interested in this film, or just collecting a paycheck. Kilmer and Brando were collecting paychecks with this film. It says something about the film when the lead, David Thewlis, refused to see the final version because he knew that it would be bad. That is someone on the inside reviewing the film and pointing out the flaws, now we all know that can't be good.
From the small person next to Brando to the unquarkiness of Kilmer's part, this film never went anywhere. I kept waiting for this pivotal moment where suddenly it would just click, but it never did. The monsters, if you dare call them that, were unfrightening and dull. They seemed to be a cross between Burton's Planet of the Apes and leftover garbage. Sadly, these horrible costumes overshadowed the possibility of some interesting symbolism. Oh wait, I think that was all Brando's fault. I realize that he was trying to play God and bring some religious moments into the film, but failed because Brando forgot to build his character. I don't mean to jump on the bandwagon here, but this was a horrible film. The story was cheap, the set was even cheaper, and the actors felt like a cheap leisure suit. It works, but you know the quality just isn't there.
I will go with others and say that this film was bad. I couldn't watch it in one sitting, and I do not feel as if anyone else should. This is a classic case of a Hollywood blunder that chose to stick with it instead of pull out for the better of everyone involved.
Grade: * out of *****
Movie Review: The worst adaption of an H G Wells story .....EVER!!!
Summary: 1 Stars
Absolute TRASH from the word go - I can't even believe that I had to give it one star - 0 is more appropriate. How can so many people give this junk 5 stars??? I appreciate the fact of artistic license, in respect of reworking the Well's book, but this is a damn right liberty - loose plots & characters made this one of the most abysmal yawn inducing films ever made - not to mention the extremely diinterested looking David Thewlis - who obviously wishes he were elsewhere, you know what so do we!!
I hate films that take a narrative from the original story and twists it so far that it becomes nothing like, or remotely like (In this case) the original. It also has the audacity to tack onto the end a 'cheesemungous' lecture about how we should all take care of our environment and the ecology of the planet.....yeah, right!
It would be a good idea for all those that think this movie is some kind of class act to revisit the Well's book and read what the original concept was for the story - instead of accepting this abortion as some work of genius.
If you don't want to read the original then for goodness sake go and watch the 1977 Burt Lancaster film - an entertaining film even if it drifts from the original story, but one heck of a better film than this clanger!
Movie Review: Chaos. Not the good kind.
Summary: 2 Stars
I really wanted to like this movie. I thought the time was right for a remake, given the breakthroughs in genetic science, and I thought Brando and Kilmer would be ideal.
But this is a mess.
I saw it in the theatres and I even went as far as buy the Unrated Director's Cut on DVD. But it's still a mess.
The original director/screenwriter has a website and he explains how the entire movie ran off track. He was fired and then snuck onto the set as an extra (to meet Brando!). I realize his rants might read as sour grapes, but too much of it makes sense.
Original lead Rob Morrow (of NORTHERN EXPOSURE) quickly escaped. The expressions of replacement Thewlis almost looked like special makeup effects. Kilmer was completely out of control, Brando was bored and went into mad improvisations, hired-hand director Frankenheimer arrives to rewrite scenes daily. Yikes.
But I thought Fairuza Balk was beautiful. Maybe with Morrow, I could see a relationship working with her character and the lead--but not as it plays.
Too bad. The material deserved better.
Movie Review: Bad adaptation
Summary: 1 Stars
The original book by H.G. Wells is perhaps one of the best books I've ever read (not the top, but up there). The visuals I got that book, from the animals chanting the law to the narrator's chase through the forest, chilled me the way no movie could. Speaking of which...This movie is nothing like the book, except for the fact that a guy is stranded on an island with a man who claims to have the name Moreau and is a doctor. The book had a lot to say about our society and the inner beast, but the movie is basically violence accompanied by a corny love story that was just as unnecessary. It wasn't romantic, you have to wonder why Fairuza Balk looked more human than the other animal-people, and you also have to wonder why Doctor Moreau didn't consider her the "perfect human" that this film claims the doctor was looking for.
The animal designs in general were pretty awful. They're all almost the same - it's basically "Planet of the Apes" with spotted and striped apes. The people in "Cats" looked more feline than the character Cheetah. There was probably very little creativity put behind this aspect of the film.
Making the doctor some thing of a sadist dictator is a bad turn as well. The first film adaptation, "The Island of Lost Souls," portrayed the doctor as a sadist dictator as well. H.G. Wells was alive at the time and hated that portrayal, and I'm certain he would abhor this film version. Much of the doctor's wit and wisdom is lost in the screenplay, which is sad considering Marlon Brando has some amazing acting talent and would have been a perfect choice to play the title character. In fact, most of the actors have amazing potential but are wasted with a bad script. The hero is perhaps the only hammy one of the group, and his character's only highlight is at the end when he turns the villains against each other.
The last five minutes try to make up for H.G. Well's symbolism, as if the writers thought, "Wow that was some badass action, awe darn we forgot the plot!" Sadly, its too little too late. If they had taken out the mutant rats, the catgirl, and the script, they might have had some thing, but unfortunately all efforts are wasted.
Movie Review: Tragically underrated
Summary: 5 Stars
I can't stress enough how important it is for anyone considering seeing this movie to ignore the heaps of negative reviews here. Most justify their opinions by calling this film strange, grotesque, or both. Both are fitting, but there's alot more to this film than that, and those two things in themselves are not necessarily reason to dislike a film. Quite the contrary, when Hollywood is so overrun with unchallenging, unoriginal fodder. I could praise the movie on any number of levels. Every actor here carries his or her eccentric role with a perfectly tasteful care not to go over the top or become too cartoonish. The dialogue is free of fluff and carries quite an element of eloquence, which is fitting when considering the overall dramatic intent. On a more basic level, the creature effects used on the half human, half animal hybrid creations inhabiting Moreau's Island are handled by none other than Stan Winston and done very well, and the soundtrack is appropriately eerie, with tribal drumming used in parts to enhance the mood. And, of course, the themes explored here, despite their familiarity (the power of instnct, and the danger of playing God), are driven home with potent efficiency, probably thanks to the extreme and sometimes bizzare nature in which they're handled.
The fact that this movie carries such a human element with it is what I really like about it. It's easy to feel for the man-beasts, tragic abominations intelligent enough to know they're nothing but the waste products of a madman's search for genetic perfection. The protagonist, as well, benefits from the fact that he is very much an introvert and probably speaks less than Val Kilmer, who is less vital to the plot. His quiet observation helps add to the realism and mold a film which could have easily been a silly mess into a moving, artfully crafted piece of work.
If you choose to judge this movie as harshly as most have, then go ahead, but at least see it first with an open mind. I for one feel a movie this bold deserves every bit of respect.