The Worst Film Ever

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

A misunderstood DNA tinkering scientist performs human-animal vivisections, but things go wrong when his creations begin to regress.The Island of Dr. Moreau is the third major film adaptation of H. G. Wells and plagued with production issues (later extensively covered in Lost Souls: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr Moreau) and unfairly (debatably) panned by critics. Director John Frankenheimer offers plenty of visual treats and along with the writers injects enough double crosses, surprise deaths and story twists to hold interest. The themes of nature, law, religion and society simmer behind the strained wacky nature of the characters. Edward Douglas (David Thewlis) survives a plane crash in the Java Sea and is eventually rescued by a passing boat which arrives on an Island, soon he finds that the inhabitants are human-animal hybrids. Writers Richard Stanley (the intended original director) and Ron Hutchinson offer a disciplined enough script. Referred to as "The Father" by the mutants, Marlon Brando gives an outlandish performance as the mad scientist. Val Kilmer, particularly makes the most of it as Montgomery - at one point mimicking Brando's Dr. Moreau with his best impression.Thewlis looks confused throughout, either due to the production or because of the character, either way his performance is fitting as perplexed Douglas, a U.N. agent who is in the middle of the warring mutant animals who are being controlled through fear using implants to exert pain. There's some entertaining moments between Brando and the world's smallest man, Nelson de la Rosa. Rosa's silent role as Majai, a miniature version of Moreau would inspire Austin Powers' Mini-me. Notable is Fairuza Balk as Aissa, Douglas' love interest. Sadly, Ron Perlman's extended cameo of sorts is wasted as the Sayer of the Law, a blind goat-like hybrid. The makeup and costumes are very good, but the CGI elements are '96 primitive and unnecessary as the cat-like creatures unconvincingly bound about. The action scenes, quieter tension filled moments are well executed and are at times menacing. The island's buildings, lush greens and sea blues of the on location shoot coupled with Gary Chang's music creates plenty of atmosphere, especially during the night-time scenes where the hybrid faction revolt, rampaging through the compounds huts shooting guns and blowing things up. Even though Richard Stanley never got to realise his darker version his DNA (no pun intended) is all over this. And while this film may have been made for the masses and less art house the late Frankenheimer's 1996 offering is arguably the most entertaining version of Wells' classic to date.

Let me lead in by saying the value of The Island of Dr. Moreau jumps exponentially if viewed in conjunction with the documentary Lost Souls, which explores the ordeal of realizing this film from concept to fruition.That said, this movie is perfectly good afternoon monster movie fare, almost quint in its feel. While it embarks on a modern telling of the classic novel, so many elements remain timeless due to the nature of its construction that the timeframe can be oblique. As the movie was in the infancy of CGI, special effects are practical and rather impressive. The story itself it a bit mucked, and the acting of the three leads are practically phoned in, but it's still unique stuff. This is a fun, throw back movie that shouldn't be taken too seriously.

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.

Essentially the " Directors Cut " or should say is the unrated cut ,scenes , such as the beginning of the beast peoples take over which is more blood thirty , the killing , of Dr Moreau , teeth biting into his flesh , also there is one " Hyena Swine " chews the doctors ( father, the) arm off with inter-cuts of various animal people's blood soaked teeth. I personally believe , how a few minutes of graphic shoots shown, in sequence , can make the difference . The reason for my mid rating is , the blu ray release , did not not have the any bonus features , no commentary track , extended documentaries or a retrospect of people who work on the film , I do not know if the DVD release , has the features I mentioned , I perused , one release online and there were no indication of any features . Though the picture are excellent on the Blu ray and likewise with the audio , I hope this will be of help , to interested parties of this much maligned film ....Thank you , for the opportunity ..