A Ilha do Dr. Moreau

It's an excitingly produced remake of ¨Island of the lost souls¨ with Marlon Brando heading a solid casting as a nutty doctor who develops a process of transforming animals into half-humans at an desolated tropical island . Through DNA experimentation Brando has upset the balance of nature. By turning animals into humans, he's turned heaven into hell . It starts when David Thewlis is rescued at sea by Val Kilmer and brought to a strange island where he's terrified to discover the terrible genetic experiments realized by Dr. Moreau , a former prize Nobel winner .

Passable horror-fantasy chiller that is developed up and down with some lousy moments and in other side contains eerie and thrilling scenes. It results to be a strong rendition of H.G. Wells' novel about an isolated scientific who has spent several years creating half-animals turning beasts into half-human . Good secondary cast as Fauriza Balk , William Hootkins and Temuera Morrison . Ron Perlman's sturdy acting , displaying a magnificent portrayal of one of the beasts . Watchable by excellent makeup by the late Stan Winston . Colorful cinematography filmed in Queensland , Australia , by the classic cameraman William A. Fraker and atmospheric musical score by Gary Chang . The motion picture is middlingly directed by John Frankenheimer and the director's cut version runs several minutes more . The movie will appeal to Brando devotees and Val Kilmer fans who will want to check out their excessive performances . Other adaptation based on H.G. Wells' known novel are the following : The classic of 1933 titled ¨The island of lost souls¨ by Erle C. Kenton with Charles Laughton , Kathleen Burke , Bela Lugosi and Richard Arlen ; and 1977 retelling by Don Taylor with Burt Lancaster , Michael York , Barbara Carrera and Nigel Davenport .

This movie gets a bad rap -- viewers say Brando plain sucks and that it butchers a good Wells story. Perhaps the latter is true, but I consider Brando, as the mad doctor, a fine choice and, while he is rather subdued, he is still the candid, self-conscious actor we all know and love. He practically mumbles his lines as his mouth is lined with cotton and (probably) cheeseburgers. And, the scene where Brando plays piano along with his "pre Mini-Me" sidekick is a classic. Now, I know Brando refused to learn his lines for this movie and Kilmer is known for being a real ass to work with, but the in-production feuds add to the aura of this film. These characters aren't supposed to like each other and the tension fills the air. The special effects are top notch, albeit gruesome and a bit overdone. It all adds to the feel of the movie. I have this movie on tape and watch it again and again, alongside "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," "Taxi Driver," "Rear Window" and "Dr. Strangelove." If you thought you shouldn't see this based on other user's comments, put your expectations aside and just enjoy!

This is one of my favourite movies. I'm a fan of H.G. Wells' books and I think this movie is true to the book. It's much better than the 1977 version. Brando does a great job and Thewlis instantly became one of my favourite actors. Fairuza Balk is absolutely gorgeous!

Wells' stories are surprisingly advanced and mature. Island of Dr. Moreau and War of the Worlds were completely believable, unlike some of the modern adaptations of his works (e.g. the movie Independence Day). Considering that this story was written in the late 1800s, it's held up quite well and is more relevant than ever.

The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996)

** (out of 4)

Edward Douglas (David Thewlis) is found floating at sea in a raft and is saved when a boat being led by a man named Montgomery (Val Kilmer) comes to the rescue. The two men end up back on an island where all sorts of strange creatures are. These creatures, it turns out, are the work of Dr. Moreau (Marlon Brando) who is trying to creature the perfect mix of human and animal.

When I originally saw this film in 1996 I was shocked at how bad it was and I couldn't help but wonder how it turned out so bad. Then we got a brilliant documentary by David Gregory, which explains what happened during the production so I decided to re-visit the movie and I was surprised to see that time has actually been rather kind to the picture. There's no question that it's still a complete mess, which is no wonder considering what happened during the production but at the same time there's quite a bit of good things to be had here.

For starters, the special effects are actually wonderful and this is especially true for the make-up effects. The animal people's make-up is terrific and you actually feel as if you're looking at a real mix between humans and animals. Of course, these effects are a major step up from the stuff we had seen in earlier version. Another major plus is that the story manages to do a good job in the creatures "problems" with who they are. There are many scenes where they want to know if they're human or some sort of animal and I found these scenes to be rather intelligent.

The performances are also something that took a beating when the film was originally released but outside of Kilmer phoning in his performance, what we get here is actually pretty good. Thewlis makes for a good leading man and Fairuza Balk is good in her role of the panther woman. The various actors who appear as the creatures do a very good job at well and especially how hard it is to "act" with all that make-up on. Then, there's Marlon Brando. I hated his performance the first time I saw it but I must admit that it worked for me on this viewing. I thought he did a rather good job playing the "father" to these and I actually liked the way he tried to parent these creatures.

Of course, that doesn't cover some of the really bad stuff here including the entire sequence with the ice bucket on his head. Other decisions the actor made like the white make-up was also incredibly silly and just doesn't fit in the film. Another problem with the movie is the entire relationship between Douglas and the panther woman just doesn't work. There's also obvious issues with the production that shines through including a rather action-packed and silly ending. I'd also argue that it just seems like the original film wanted to be something more intelligent but that was scraped.

THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU still isn't a good movie but at the same time it's certainly not as bad as it was viewed in 1996. I'm one of the people who really crushed this film when it was released but this latest viewing had me seeing it a tad bit better. Still, you can't help but call this a disappointment since the materials were there for something much better.

Ever wonder where Col. Kurtz would've ended up had he survived the end of "Apocalypse Now"? Well, now we know: He exiled himself to a deserted island to create humanimals - the horror, the horror.

This 1996 version of "The Island of Dr. Moreau" was such a troubled production that articles, books and documentaries have been made about it, like the 2014 documentary "Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau." Stanley championed the project, wrote the screenplay and was set to direct, but was fired after a few days of filming due to conflicts with Val Kilmer, who wasn't in the best of moods due to being served divorce papers while on set.

Actually that wasn't the main reason Stanley was fired. He was fine for small indie productions, but he was out of his league with a blockbuster like this. Veteran filmmaker John Frankenheimer was brought in to save the production from being a complete disaster. He got the job done, but his tyrannical approach didn't help matters.

The production was so bad that Fairuza Balk (the cat-lady, Aissa) literally tried to escape the set, but was caught at the airport in the nick of time. Add to this Brando's well-known eccentricities, not helped by the recent suicide of his daughter, Cheyenne, and constant rewrites and you have a formula for a cinematic chaos!

In light of the horrible production and the ensuing bad press you would think this would be a lousy movie, but it's actually not THAT bad. I can see why some people don't like it because parts of the third act are pretty crazy and don't flow very well, but if you're a sucker for lost-on-an-island type yarns and appreciate the mood & insanity of films like "Apocalypse Now" and the original "Planet of the Apes" ("It's a madhouse, a MADHOUSE!") you'll probably appreciate some of it. Don't get me wrong, it's nowhere near the caliber of either of those films, but comparisons are inevitable and there are entertaining bits.

The main problem is that the story isn't that compelling; the flow of the movie is off, which is mostly apparent in the mounting craziness of the final third, which tempts the viewer to tune out.

Thankfully, there are some positives. The title sequence is kinetic and dazzling; the score by Gary Chang is varied and all-around phenomenal; the plot is intriguing; the humanimal make-up and actors are quite good with Daniel Rigney's 'Hyena-Swine' standing out (Rigney would be dead a mere year after the film's release); there's some creative pizazz, like Marlon Brando's 35-minute stint where he's as captivating as always, albeit a fat bastage; the inclusion of Dr. Moreau's "Mini-Me" is hilarious in hindsight of the Austin Powers trilogy; and there are flashes of nigh greatness, like Edward's revelatory talk with Aissa in the third act.

Marlon's Dr. Moreau is a variation of Kurtz, i.e. nutjob in the jungle, albeit twenty years later. For Brando fans it's enjoyable seeing him in his old age. This was one of his final films and it shows that he had his magnetic charm 'til the end.

Furthermore, there are some interesting themes: The humanimals who get to live in Dr. Moreau's abode are more human-like in appearance than the animals living in the smelly humanimal 'village' in the forest; the most human-like one, Aissa, he even refers to as his daughter. Wouldn't this lead to tensions between the factions? Moreover, while Moreau is a benevolent dictator he's still a dictator and dictators are rarely good. When Hyena-Swine usurps the crown he immediately becomes a malevolent dictator.

The original version runs 96 minutes and the DC 99 minutes. The film was shot in Cairns, Queensland, Australia.

GRADE: C+