The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996) New Line/Horror RT: 100 minutes (Director’s Cut) Unrated (sci-fi violence, horror, gore involving mutant creatures) Director: John Frankenheimer Screenplay: Richard Stanley and Ron Hutchinson Music: Gary Chang Cinematography: William A. Fraker Release date: August 23, 1996 (US) Cast: Marlon Brando, Val Kilmer, David Thewlis, Fairuza Balk, Daniel Rigney, Temuera Morrison, Nelson de la Rosa, Peter Elliott, Mark Dacascos, Ron Perlman, Marco Hofschneider, Miguel Lopez, Neil Young, David Hudson, Clare Grant, Kitty Silver, Fiona Mahl, William Hootkins. Box Office: $27.6M (US)/$49.6M (World)
Rating: *
Maybe they should have scrapped the movie and released a documentary about the making of The Island of Dr. Moreau instead. What happened behind the scenes of the third film adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel is far more entertaining than anything that happens on-screen. Regarded as one of the most troubled productions in Hollywood history, it was plagued by difficulties from the start. There were cast, weather, budget and script issues. Two of the biggest problems were the main stars, Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer. Brando left the North Queensland set after the suicide of his daughter Cheyenne and left no word on when or if he would return. When he did come back, he refused to learn his lines. They had to be fed to him through an earpiece. Kilmer arrived to the set two days late and wasted no time in alienating everybody with his difficult behavior. As per his reputation, he was a bully and an obnoxious a**hole. On top of all this, the two stars despised each other. It was a true battle of the egos.
New Line blamed it all of the problems on the original director Richard Stanley (Hardware) for whom a new version of The Island of Dr. Moreau had been a dream project since childhood. Three days into filming, studio executives abruptly fired him (by fax, no less) and replaced him with John Frankenheimer. Rumors of Stanley planning to sabotage the production as revenge caused New Line to hire extra security. Filmed commenced, but the problems continued. The director was frequently at odds with Kilmer over his continuing bad behavior. After one especially heated argument, Frankenheimer said, “I don’t like Val Kilmer, I don’t like his work ethic and I don’t want to be associated with him ever again!” When the actor filmed his last scene, the director reportedly told the crew, “Now get that bastard off my set!”
The Island of Dr. Moreau opened in late August (never a good sign) to unanimous bad reviews and poor box office, grossing only $27.6M on a $40M budget. New Line didn’t screen it in advance for critics or audiences (another bad sign). I didn’t get to it until the Monday after opening weekend. I went to an afternoon show with a couple of friends. As I recall, the theater was nearly empty save for a few doomed souls who also wasted their hard-earned money on this colossal turkey. Yes, I actually paid to see it which hurts worse than anything. My only solace is that it made me laugh out loud, especially when Brando first appears wearing Kabuki make-up, a white muumuu and an ice bucket on his head. It’s still not worth the price of admission, but at least it’s something.
The sole survivor of a plane crash in the Java Sea, UN negotiator Edward Douglas (Thewlis, the Harry Potter movies), is rescued by a passing ship whose passenger list includes veterinarian Dr. Montgomery (Kilmer, The Doors). He takes him to the private island of Dr. Moreau (Brando, The Godfather), a Nobel-winning scientist who relocated to an isolated place so he can fully focus on his research. After a brief encounter with Moreau’s daughter Aissa (Balk, Return to Oz), Douglas sees things that totally blow his mind. That is, after he escapes from the guest room Montgomery conspicuously locks him in for his own safety. After witnessing the birth of a mutant baby, Aissa takes him to a village populated by human-animal hybrids. That’s when Moreau makes his first appearance. At dinner, the doctor explains he’s trying to create a higher life form by combining human and animal DNA. Furthermore, he maintains control over his experiments with implants that cause shocks when they don’t act human. Of course we all know this will eventually lead to a rebellion against their creator.
Although labeled a horror movie, The Island of Dr. Moreau is anything but scary. A few other adjectives come to mind instead- weird, loopy, dopey, loony and unintentionally funny. It gets more insane as it goes on, going deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole until Frankenheimer finally pulls the plug and ends it. It’s a mercy killing. It’s easily one of the worst movies of the 90s. At the same time, it’s not unwatchable. It’s sort of fun to watch it go down in flames, especially after how difficult it was to get it made in the first place.
Let’s talk about Marlon Brando for a bit. There’s no question he’s one of the greatest (and most eccentric) actors of all time. Look at some of the movies he’s been in- A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront, Mutiny on the Bounty, The Godfather, Last Tango in Paris, Superman and Apocalypse Now. He’s done a few stinkers too- The Missouri Breaks, The Formula, Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (as Torquemada) and The Brave. I wouldn’t necessarily call his performance in The Island of Dr. Moreau his worst, but it’s certainly his loopiest. In his limited screen time, the actor makes a real impression. In one of the movie’s weirdest elements, he prefigures the Dr. Evil-Mini-Me relationship from the Austin Powers comedies with a dwarf sidekick/clone played by Nelson de la Rosa, a Dominican actor measuring only 2’ 4”. The scene where they play a piano duet (a mini on top of a regular-sized) is an image you’ll never forget. It’s too bizarre.
Now onto Kilmer, also a gifted actor with a reputation for being difficult. I never knew how truly good an actor he is until I saw his portrayal of rock legend Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s impressionistic biopic The Doors. He also did stellar work in Tombstone (as Doc Holliday), True Romance (as Elvis) and Heat in which he more than holds his own against Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. In looking over Kilmer’s filmography, he usually makes good choices. The Island of Dr. Moreau obviously isn’t one of them. He delivers a performance that can be described as professional at first. As things progress, it gets as crazy as the movie surrounding it. By the end, it’s full-fledged bonkers. His imitation of Brando’s character is good for a few laughs.
Thewlis is simply a bore as Douglas, the supposed protagonist of the piece. He’s easily eclipsed by the two leads despite having the most screen time. Ron Perlman (Quest for Fire) shows up as the blind “Sayer of the Law”. He tries to keep the peace between the hybrids and the humans by urging the former to “be human”. He’s one of the movies very few bright spot as is Balk. ME-OW! She’s sexy and beautiful as Aissa, a girl with a predictable secret. The other good thing about The Island of Dr. Moreau is Stan Winston’s creature design. He always does good work that stands out in even the worst movies. The man-animal hybrids look convincing. It beats anything CGI could do.
Shockingly, I don’t hate The Island of Dr. Moreau. It’s a bad movie alright; a total disaster, in fact. It was doomed from the start and it shows in the end result. It’s one of those bad movies that you can watch with friends and make sport of. If any movie deserves the MST3K or RiffTrax treatment, it’s this. Meanwhile, if you want to see a serious treatment of Wells’ novel, check out the 1932 version Island of Lost Souls starring Charles Laughton and Bela Lugosi. If you want to laugh, watch the one I just skewered… I mean, reviewed.
