THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1996 James Berardinelli
RATING (0 TO 10): 4.0 Alternative Scale: ** out of ****
United States, 1996 U.S. Release Date: 8/23/96 (wide) Running Length: 1:35 MPAA Classification: PG-13 (Violence, mature themes) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Cast: Marlon Brando, Val Kilmer, David Thewlis, Fairuza Balk, Ron Perlman, Temuera Morrison, Marco Hofschneider, William Hootkins Director: John Frankenheimer Producer: Edward R. Pressman Screenplay: Walon Green, Michael Herr, Ron Hutchinson, and Richard Stanley, based on the story by H.G. Wells Cinematography: William A. Fraker Music: Gary Chang U.S. Distributor: New Line Cinema
In THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, Robert Louis Stevenson examined the nature of good and evil by externalizing a normally-internal struggle. Similarly, in THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU, H.G. Wells explored the differences between man and beast by taking a battle that normally occurs deep in the heart (the civilized aspect of one's nature versus the bestial one) and realizing it in a concrete manner. There's also a none-too-subtle message about the dangers of letting the advancements of science outstrip corresponding ethics. As originally envisioned by Wells, THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU is a tale of great substance; as re-invented by director John Frankenheimer (THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE), it's disappointingly shallow and pointless.
This is, in fact, the third time the H.G. Wells story has been brought to the screen. The first, called THE ISLAND OF LOST SOULS, was made in 1933. Filmed in black-and-white with Charles Laughton as Dr. Moreau, it's a chilling (if somewhat outdated) look at what happens when a man plays god. 44 years later, with Burt Lancaster in the title role, a color version of THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU opened in theaters. Arguably better than the original, this uses state-of-the-art makeup to augment an adventure that still has time to consider the philosophical implications of its subject matter. Now, in 1996, we are saddled with another remake. And, while it might have been possible to argue the merits of this version of THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU if it had offered something more than the others, the sad truth is that it offers much less. For, while the creatures look better than in even the 1977 version, the heart and soul of the story have been gutted, leaving behind a hollow, chaotic nightmare.
Somewhere under the debris left by a script credited to four screenwriters lie the remnants of Wells' story, but the original tale is distorted and diluted not only by the need to "modernize" it, but the desire to emphasize visual effects and pyrotechnics over drama. (So what else is new this summer?) When the movie opens, we're introduced to Englishman Edward Douglas (David Thewlis), the lone survivor of a plane crash. He's drifting around on the ocean in a life raft when a ship captained by an American named Montgomery (Val Kilmer) rescues him. Then, as he's being treated for dehydration, he's taken to the isolated island of Montgomery's mentor, the Nobel Prize-winning Doctor Moreau (Marlon Brando), to await transportation back to civilization. Almost immediately, Edward becomes aware that some very strange things are taking place there. Moreau is experimenting with splicing animal and human DNA. In trying to engineer the perfect creature, an entity that is "pure, harmonious, and free of malice", he has created a gallery of grotesquely malformed "beast-men". The prize of his collection is his "daughter", Aissa (Fairuza Balk), a real "pussycat."
THE ISLAND DR. MOREAU gets off to a promising start. Steeped in an atmosphere that grows more ominous and eerie with each scene, the first half hour promises far more than what the rest of the production delivers. The film's middle portion, while watchable, makes us aware that the script wasn't written for thinking viewers. It's during the concluding half hour, however, that the movie's house-of-cards storyline collapses. Nothing much makes sense, and the climax seems to exist solely as an opportunity to show off a few reasonably impressive explosions.
The acting varies from bad to awful. During the last fifteen-plus years, Marlon Brando has been in the habit of taking small roles for obscene sums of money. His cameo performances are typically terrible, and his interpretation of Moreau follows the pattern. He's only on screen for about fifteen minutes, and, while there, his amazing girth is far more likely to capture our attention than his acting. Meanwhile, David Thewlis and Val Kilmer seem to be in a contest to see who can ham it up more. To be fair, Fairuza Balk (GAS FOOD LODGING) does a credible job of mixing kittenish and human qualities, but, although she creates the only sympathetic character in the entire film, she is underused. Other members of the cast, including Ron Perlman (THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN) and Temuera Morrison (ONCE WERE WARRIORS), are unrecognizable beneath Stan Winston's makeup.
Insultingly, Frankenheimer concludes the movie with a short sermon about the fine line that separates man from beast. If the director actually wanted to get this point across, he should have worked it into the film rather than tacking it on as an afterthought. It is, after all, an integral aspect of the source material. That it has been so thoroughly excised from the main plot isn't THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU's only problem, but it's symptomatic of the flawed mindset that went into planning this occasionally incoherent and ultimately disappointing motion picture.
- James Berardinelli e-mail: berardin@bc.cybernex.net ReelViews web site: http://www.cybernex.net/~berardin
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