The Island of Dr. Moreau (Unrated Director's Cut)

Starring:Fairuza Balk, Marlon Brando, Mark Dacascos, Peter Elliott (II), Clare Grant, Marco Hofschneider, William Hootkins, David Hudson, Val Kilmer, Miguel LÃ³pez, Fiona Mahl, Temuera Morrison, Ron Perlman, Daniel Rigney, Kitty Silver, David Thewlis, Neil Young (II), Nelson de la Rosa
Director: John Frankenheimer
Studio: New Line Home Video
Product Type: DVD

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Previously filmed in 1933 (as Island of Lost Souls) and 1977, the classic H.G. Wells story was filmed again for this graphic 1996 version. The film was roasted by critics, but it's an utterly fascinating failure, largely due to the performances of David Thewlis, Val Kilmer, and especially Marlon Brando in the title role as a mad (and in this case outrageously bizarre) scientist whose experiments in crossbreeding humans with animals have gone terribly awry. Thewlis plays the wayward scholar who is rescued at sea by Kilmer and brought to Moreau's island to discover the doctor's unnatural "children." Fairuza Balk plays Moreau's half-cat daughter, but it's Brando and Kilmer (in one scene doing a killer Brando impersonation) who steal the show, along with the astounding makeup effects created by Stan Winston. A guilty pleasure by any measure, this movie has definite cult-favorite potential, and in addition to offering a "director's cut" with previously unseen footage, the DVD includes audio commentary by director John Frankenheimer, who replaced the original director on short notice and completed this film under highly stressful conditions. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

Disturbing& dysfunction & dark = perfection.......2007-01-25

A big-budget remake of the H.G. Wells story (previously filmed in 1977), The Island of Dr. Moreau follows a shipwrecked sailor (David Thewlis) who stumbles upon a mysterious island. He's shocked to discover that a brilliant scientist (Marlon Brando) and his lab assistant (Val Kilmer) have found a way to combine human and animal DNA -- with horrific results.

Just when I thought that the 1st one couldn't get worse.........2006-12-06

..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.

very interesting adaptation.......2006-08-22

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.

Quick and to the point.......2006-06-25

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.

MARVELOUS MISFIRE.......2006-01-30

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.

Average customer rating:

What is the Law?
"There is a beast in man that should be exercised, not exorcised."
When the result is even major than the sum of its parts!
Use in the Classroom
Island of the Damned

The Island of Dr. Moreau
Starring: Burt Lancaster , Michael York , Nigel Davenport , Barbara Carrera , and Richard Basehart
Director: Don Taylor
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Release Date: 2001-08-28

Amazon.com

The Island of Doctor Moreau is a remake of 1932's Island of Lost Souls and, of course, an adaptation of H.G. Wells's classic tale of the dangers of playing God. Shipwreck victim Andrew (Michael York) washes up on a tropical island and is taken in by Dr. Moreau (Burt Lancaster), who lords over a compound staffed by some distinctly odd-looking servants. Also along for the ride are the mysteriously beautiful Maria, menacing shadows in the jungle, and lots and lots of cages in the House of Pain. While not as eerily creepy as its predecessor, The Island of Doctor Moreau has some fun makeup tricks and a good tiger fight or two, not to mention a thorough discussion of legal nuance by the island's "natives" ("What is the law?" "Not to walk on all fours!"). Definitely a fine afternoon's entertainment. Remade in 1996 with Marlon Brando. --Ali Davis

Customer Reviews:

What is the Law?.......2007-01-15

After the 1933 horror Classic "Island of Lost Souls" starring Charles Laughton as Dr. Moreau & Bela Lugosi as Sayer of the Law yet another movie adaption of H.G. Wells (The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, The Invisible Man" twisted horror novel starring the legendary Burt Lancaster as the half human half animal beast creator, Dr. Moreau & Michael York as Andrew Braddock, the shipwrecked man who is in terror on the island & beautiful Barbara Carrera as Braddocks's love interest Maria, It's a thrill ride!

"There is a beast in man that should be exercised, not exorcised.".......2006-08-26

An Englishman named 'Montgomery' is stranded with a lost companion on a deserted tropical island where he is rescued by Dr. Moreau, a genius in genetics, pursuing altruistic medical miracles to alleviate mankind from incurable maladies, although his methods are questioned, but it is maintained that the ends justify the means. He continues to make strides to this effect until perfidiously antagonistic organisms deem to thwart his noble efforts, who eventually become subjects themselves for his experiments, thus contributing far more to his vision rather than merely complaining about it.

Down in the jungle outside of his compound reside some of his genetic creations, man-beasts, veritable 'humanimals' of various species, from a bearman, boarman, to hyenaman, lionman, tigerman, bullman, and a monkeyman who is "The Sayer of The Law"* {small portion follows}:

"Not to go on all fours: this is the law. Are we not men?"

"Not to show our fangs in anger. Are we not men?"

"Not to snarl or roar. That is the Law. Are we not men?"

"What Is The Law? Not to shed the blood of another man. That is the law."

An obvious treatise on civility to temper impulsive feral proclivities. Those beastmen who violate this law are taken to "The House of Pain" for 'correction'... for Moreau elucidates that if this discipline is not enforced, the beastmen would run wild and surely kill their human counterparts. Much like the lion who must not be allowed to overtake the master even in jest, lest he begin to dominate the trainer.

What this film demonstrates is the necessary realization and connection to one's natural animalistic state, lest imbalance tranform the denier into a broken creature. Dr. LaVey's infamous quote comes to mind:

"There is a beast in man that should be exercised, not exorcised."

One particularly notable scene depicts the stubbornly independant bullman fighting for his mental freedom, as he denies 'the law' and questions what is so wrong with realizing that one is an animal? Out in the bush, he vanquishes tiger with the obvious shedding of blood, and thereby becomes subject to the punishments of The House of Pain, but would rather run free and even die than suffer that indignity. Sadly for him, the consequence is lethal at the gunpoint of Montgomery, which then begins to raise other questions in the minds of the beastmen, as they slowly begin to realize the double-standards and hypocrisies enacted by the humans, in a likened "do as I say, not as I do" scenario, which does not sit well with them at all, and they begin to revolt. Revolution is the first step to evolution.

Beautiful resident orphan Maria {the gorgeous brunette Barbara Carrera} who was also rescued by Moreau as a child falls in lust with Montgomery, and remains with him through his transformation into manimal at the hands of Moreau, after he displays inclinations towards betrayal, and becomes an experiment, as his senses and instincts sharpen, excellerated pilose generation, legs to haunches, with an incessant desire to kill prey for food, but he remains in control of his civility nonetheless. She helps him escape the cage, the natives from thereon become restless as the mutiny scene develops, the ingrates set the compound aflame, with their maker placed in a suspended supine crucifixion.

Montgomery and Maria finally boat off to modern civilization.

_________

* Also used as a large part of the litany comprising Dr. Anton LaVey's lycanthropic rite "Das Tierdrama" from 'The Satanic Rituals' book. The Island of Dr. Moreau is a LaVeyan recommendation.

When the result is even major than the sum of its parts!.......2006-07-04

Burt Lancaster gave a terrific performance as the ambitious Dr.Moreau who pretends to create anew race; the "humanimals" , half beats, half man and the inexpressive Michael Yoprk as the good guy who will intend by all his means to avoid the prolongation of this horrid nightmare.

Effective sci fi movie that, despite to count with minor technologic resources, it got its aim and surmounted by far the infamous remake of 1996.

Use in the Classroom.......2005-01-13

I teach 9th grade English, and after reading Wells's "The Island of Dr. Moreau" in my English I class, I chose to have my students watch the 1996 remake rather than this version. Although both movies greatly deviate from Wells's story, the 1977 version would have bored my students to tears. If you intend to show a movie version of this novel, then I would choose the 1996 version since it is faster-paced and more dramatic. Plus, Val Kilmer plays a very convincing Montgomery. The redeeming quality of this 1977 version is the cave scene during which the Beast People teach Braddock "The Law," though your students will probably be asleep by the time that scene occurs.

Island of the Damned.......2004-12-15

If you saw this as a kid, you always thought it was a classic. Although it doesn't hold up when one is an adult so much, it is still a decent flick to watch if you sprained your ankle and can't get out of the house. The plot concerns a stranded engineer (York) of a freighter that lands on a remote island that is inhabited by strange creatures. Lancaster is superb as the ingenious Dr Monreau who is a gifted geneticist and biologist who wants to merge animals with man to get the perfect creation that only science can manufacture. He is obviously a disciple of Nietzsche and Spencer. There is a creepiness about the island that the film manages to sustain throughout. The make-up is excellent and the beast men are rather frightening (not recommended for children under 7). Basheart plays the sayer of the law, who as an aged and wisdom filled creature whom attempts to dissuade complete anarchy amongst the beast men. Not a bad production.

The Island of Dr. Moreau / Dark City / The Hidden

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The Island of Dr. Moreau / Dark City / The Hidden
Starring: Warner Triple Feature
Manufacturer: New Line Home Video
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Release Date: 2006-11-07

Average customer rating:

Disturbing& dysfunction & dark = perfection
Just when I thought that the 1st one couldn't get worse..
very interesting adaptation
Quick and to the point
MARVELOUS MISFIRE

The Island of Dr. Moreau [Region 2]

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Binding: DVD

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Customer Reviews:

Disturbing& dysfunction & dark = perfection.......2007-01-25

Just when I thought that the 1st one couldn't get worse.........2006-12-06

very interesting adaptation.......2006-08-22

Quick and to the point.......2006-06-25

MARVELOUS MISFIRE.......2006-01-30

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The Island of Dr. Moreau

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0007XBKD6
Release Date: 2005-03-08

Description

Animals become monsters - and a man becomes part animal - in this sci-fi shocker starring Burt Lancaster and a galaxy of mutant monsters created by some of the makeup legends behind Planet of the Apes. On a tropical Pacific island, the mad Dr. Moreau (Lancaster) has set out to fool Mother Nature, conducting nightmarish genetic experiments that have resulted in Lionmen, Tigermen, Bearmen and other marauding monstrosities. But when a storm at sea washes shipwreck survivor Braddock (Michael York) ashore, the sinister surgeon devises a diabolical plan to dispose of his meddling and uninvited guest. Partially transformed into one of Moreau's monstrosities, Braddock must escape from this tropical hell before the mad surgeon can finish the job…of bringing out the beast in him!