Review of Island of Dr Moreau, The

Introduction

I have never seen the original 1977 version of this movie and had heard many poor comments about the 1996 remake. Reading the back of this DVD though I was mildly intrigued. It sounded like a good idea for a plot. “This could be alright as it goes” I thought. The idea of lots of gruesome experiments and an island full of weird creatures could be fun. The tag line even sounded appealing – ‘Through DNA Experimentation. Dr. Moreau has upset the balance of nature.’. Well after watching the movie here`s my revised tagline –

‘Through DVD Experimentation. Dr. Moreau has upset ME.”

Video

The movie, presented in it’s original theatrical ratio of 2.35:1, is a mixed bag. Hang on, what am I saying? If it’s a mixed bag it’s a bag full of very nasty stuff indeed. The image quality is pretty poor throughout with some sequences looking worse than an average VHS transfer. I can honestly say that this is one of the worst transfers I have seen on DVD. Yes there are the occasional pieces that are reasonable but this is DVD we are talking about and the format deserves far better. The crime of it all is that the transfer is anamorphic. Just how poor would it have been if it wasn’t an anamorphic transfer? The menu is suitably poor consisting of one static and silent screen.

Aside form the DVD the make up effects are largely dreadful. Planet of the Apes did a better job with creature effects back in 1974 for crying out loud. In a movie which is relying on the premise of scary creatures to a large degree these poor effects do it no favours whatsoever.

Audio

Oh dear, you are going to start to recognise a bit of a theme. The audio is suitably in keeping with the video in being rather awful. The soundtrack is presented in Dolby Pro-Logic which I find rather odd seeing as the region 1 version has a full blown Dolby Digital 5.1 track. That’s not to say that Pro-Logic tracks are bad, in fact there are some very effective tracks out there just not this one. It’s a shame as there are allot of opportunities for some very interesting sound moments that are simply wasted. The use of the rear channel was very poor and infrequent and the separation from the front speakers was largely uninspiring.

Features

And you thought it couldn’t get any worse? No extras at all, not even a trailer. Inexcusable.

Conclusion

On to the actual movie. Oh . . .my . . . god! This is a real stinker and make no mistake.

David Thewlis plays the part of Edward Douglas, a UN diplomat who finds himself stranded on an island where a series of bizarre experiments has created a mutant race of half man/half animal creatures. This guy is so miss-cast it’s untrue. I can’t even begin to go into how bad he is in this role. Moving on Marlon Brando plays the part of Dr. Moreau in what is, without doubt, his worst ever role. He would be almost laughable if he was actually taking part in a comedy. His assistant is played by Val Kilmer. Not even Batman can save this cast and he spends the last half of the movie out of his head on morphine and assorted drugs. Personally I don’t think this was an act, it’s the only way I can see that he could actually get through to the end of the script. Even the token female, Fairuza Balk from The Craft, is nothing special. This is definitely one movie that you can guarantee these actors would like left off of their biographies.

The premise is designed to make you think. Here we have a scientist who is trying to remove all evil from man by mixing human and animal DNA to try a produce the next evolutionary step for human kind, a creature that could do no harm. In his pursuit he elevates himself to something akin to Father Nature and of course it all goes horribly wrong. Instead it made me think “just how long is left of this awful movie”.

Sorry but I really did give this movie a chance but it is simply dire. Add to that the worst quality DVD I have seen and all round this is one to avoid like the plague.

(If you don`t believe how bad this movie is take a look at the screenshot of the half eaten rabit - even that looks totally false!)