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| New Line Cinema | Release Date: August 23, 1996 |
Starring:
Daniel Rigney, David Thewlis, Fairuza Balk, Mark Dacascos, Marlon Brando, Nelson de la Rosa, Peter Elliott, Ron Perlman, Temuera Morrison, Val Kilmer
Summary:
After being rescued and brought to an island, a man discovers that its inhabitants are experimental animals being turned into strange-looking humans, all of it the work of a visionary doctor.
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Under the steady direction of John Frankenheimer, the movie's most memorable scenes involve the beasts' half-human limitations, their blind allegiance to "father" Moreau, and their discovery of the painful implants he uses to control them. They often make up for what was the chief shortcoming in Wells' original: its thin plot. [23 Aug 1996]
It flows, but it never gets tense, and the climax just sort of passes unnoticed. The movie reaches too hard to push messages about human nature that are really right on the surface. Complicating things is the casting of Brando and Kilmer, who as usual, are not in the same movie as the rest of the cast. [23 Aug 1996, p.3E]
The movie keeps switching focus without
ever getting its bearings, and when Brando exits earlier than
expected, there's little but mayhem to fall back on. Moreau and
mayhem are synonymous, to be sure, but we already know this going
in. [23 Aug 1996]
It's ironic that a movie taking aim at the dangers of science run amok would invest so strongly in the science of its slick filmmaking and special makeup effects and so little toward the development of a cohesive screenplay, but such is the case with The Island of Dr. Moreau.
The disastrous new version of H.G. Wells' "The Island of Dr. Moreau" at least affords Marlon Brando a grand entrance and a great comic portrayal. [23 Aug 1996, p.F12]
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