The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996 film)
The Island of Dr. Moreau is a 1996 American science fiction horror film, based on the 1896 novel The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells. It was directed by John Frankenheimer (who was brought in half a week after shooting started) and stars Marlon Brando, Val Kilmer, David Thewlis, and Fairuza Balk. The screenplay is credited to the original director Richard Stanley and Ron Hutchinson.[1][2] It is the third major film adaptation of the Wells novel, following Island of Lost Souls (1932) and The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977).
The Island of Dr. Moreau
- August 23, 1996 (United States)
- November 15, 1996 (United Kingdom)
96 minutes
United States
English
$40 million
$49.6 million
The production was notoriously difficult, marred by issues with the cast, harsh weather and a skyrocketing budget. Bruce Willis was originally hired to play Edward Prendick, but allegedly dropped out as he started divorce procedures from Demi Moore, his wife at the time. Willis was replaced by Kilmer, who made his availability limited, and later had anger issues with most of the cast after also being served divorce papers on set. Then actor Rob Morrow quit because of script rewrites.[3][4][5][6][7][8]
Brando's role as Moreau was supposed to be expanded, but following his daughter's suicide, Brando retreated to his private island, leaving production in limbo, not knowing when or even if he would show up. Brando also did not want to learn his lines, so he requested them through an earpiece and/or improvised his dialogue. Original director Richard Stanley was dismissed by New Line Cinema after problems arose during production, including a major hurricane, with Frankenheimer being brought in to replace him. The film received generally negative reviews and was considered a box office bomb.[3][4][5][6][7][8]
In 2014, the documentary Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau was released, covering Stanley's experiences while he conceived and developed the project, his time as director, and the aftermath of his departure and the effect it had on the cast, crew and overall film.[9] Kilmer also shared some behind-the-scenes footage of the film in the 2021 documentary Val where he shared his side of events.[10]
Plot[edit]
United Nations negotiator Edward Douglas survives a plane crash in the Java Sea and is rescued by a passing boat. Aboard, Dr. Montgomery tends to him and, after telling him the boat has no radio, he promises Douglas the captain will take him to Timor. However, when they arrive at Montgomery's destination, referred to as "Moreau's Island", he instead advises Douglas to disembark so he can use the radio on the island.
Montgomery unloads a shipment of rabbits at a pen where he kills one for Douglas' meal. They go to the Main House, where Douglas is warned not to wander. He meets a daughter of Dr. Moreau's called Aissa, but Montgomery turns him away from her and leads him to his room. On the way, they discuss how Moreau vanished after becoming obsessed with his animal research. Montgomery locks Douglas in his room, for his own safety, but he escapes that night. After exploring briefly, he hears strange, moaning cries coming from nearby. He is curious and enters a laboratory building, and finds a room of medical equipment, incubation chambers and liquid-filled, cylindrical artificial “wombs”, containing what appear to be fetuses developing. He hears the cries again and, from a distance, watches in shock as a female human/llama mutant gives birth, with several doctors attending to the delivery.
Douglas’ presence is noticed by one of the male doctors—who peels back his face mask to reveal he is, also, a human/animal hybrid—and flees, finding Aissa who leads him to the ‘village’ of the mutants. Still confused and shocked by what he has witnessed, Aissa simply looks at him when he asks questions. The two find a partially-eaten rabbit and observe a leopard/human hybrid called Lo-Mai (also referred to by the nickname "Cheetah").
At the village, they find the ‘Sayer of the Law’—a generally benevolent goat/sheep/human hybrid with large, curled horns growing from his head, and hoof-like hands—whose Law preaches "being human" instead of animalistic, in terms of practicing manners, restraint and discipline. Dr. Moreau appears, apparently worshipped and referred to as "The Father" by the mutants. It is discovered that he keeps the hybrids subjugated by using a remote-controlled electrical implant, surgically placed at birth under their skin. This is one of the few methods of security Moreau implements against his "creations".
Dr Moreau tells the villagers to release Douglas and demands Montgomery give him back his handgun. Moreau then calmly reassures a shocked Douglas, explaining who he is and who his "children" are. He explains his genetic creations; he introduced human DNA into animals in search of a higher being, supposedly incapable of harm. The existing Beast-Folk are imperfect, but Moreau claims to be very close to a "solution". Moreau's son Azazello comes in with the half-eaten rabbit, much to the disgust of the apparent pacifistic Moreau (who forbids meat-eating). When he learns of the eaten rabbit, he promises that there will be a "trial" the next day. Douglas tries to escape by boat, but stops as it is overrun with humanoid rats.
At the outdoor trial, Lo-Mai (the leopard hybrid) becomes enraged and runs at Moreau. When the remote-controlled implant doesn't stop him, Azazello suddenly shoots Lo-Mai dead, much to the shock of all in attendance. His body is cremated publicly and not immediately disposed of. A humanoid hyena/pig called "Hyena-Swine" comes to grieve his friend. When inspecting the charred remains, he notices a strange object embedded in Lo-Mai's arm bone, the control implant. He then feels for the same implant on his own body and subsequently digs it out and removes it from the bone, roaring loudly in pain. Hyena then realizes what the implant is. He says "no more pain" and wants to spread the word to all the other mutants. Montgomery reveals to Douglas that in addition to the pain, the animals are controlled through regular drugging to prevent them from "retrogressing". Hyena-Swine reveals his removed implant to Montgomery who sets the other beasts after him. Meanwhile, Douglas tries to contact the outside world, but Montgomery sabotages the radio and Aissa reveals to Moreau that she is regressing as she shows her cat-like pupils, canine teeth becoming fangs, and her fingernails becoming sharper.
Hyena-Swine and his trackers—now on his side and also free of implants—break into the main compound and confront Moreau. Initially, Moreau comforts a seemingly depressed and sad Hyena-Swine, who begins to get more angry. He asks Moreau "what are we?" Moreau replies lovingly "my children", which causes Hyena-Swine to become enraged, saying they reject humanity and the Law. Now, realizing he may actually be in danger, Moreau presses the remote control repeatedly, to no effect—the group subsequently attacks and kills Moreau. Douglas sees the aftermath of the attack and fires a gunshot, scaring the group off. Moreau's children grieve, except for Azazello, who steals Montgomery's handgun and goes to join Hyena-Swine's faction. Aissa informs Douglas that he can stop her regression with a serum from the lab. However, it turns out Montgomery has gone insane and destroyed it. Douglas also finds samples and a file with his name on them and finds out that Moreau was planning to use his DNA to stop Aissa's regression permanently, completing his experiments. Meanwhile, Azazello leads the mutants to the armory.
The mutants have now taken over the island, keeping the Sayer of the Law and others as hostages. Montgomery has lost his mind and is promoting hedonism amongst the mutants. He sits in the former Doctor's throne as if he were a King; Azazello then shoots the drunken Montgomery dead as he watches a mutant orgy, and Hyena-Swine's group continues to rampage around the island. Azazello hangs Aissa before being executed by Hyena-Swine, having outlived his usefulness. Douglas manages to survive by telling Hyena-Swine to impose his leadership and be "God Number One" among the others of his faction, especially those who helped him kill Moreau, causing Hyena-Swine to kill his supporters. While he's distracted, M'Ling, another one of Moreau's sons, triggers an explosion that causes Hyena-Swine to lose his gun and allows Douglas to escape. Finding himself outnumbered and defenseless, Hyena-Swine retreats into the burning building where he burns himself alive in anguish and despair.
The Sayer of the Law, Assassimon, and several other peaceful-minded mutants see-off Douglas as he leaves on a raft. The Sayer tells Douglas that the hybrids are now wanting to return to their natural state of being and believes it is better to end their creator's work. In closing narration, scenes of various human wars, conflicts, and destruction are shown as Douglas reflects on the comparable savagery that can emerge in humans. The film ends as he claims to leave the island "in fear" and that mankind is the true "animal".
Peter Cullen provided the trailer narration for this film.
Production[edit]
Casting[edit]
As recounted in David Gregory's documentary Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau (2014), the chaotic events of the making of the film quickly led to its becoming one of the most difficult and troubled productions in Hollywood history.[11]
A film version of Dr. Moreau had been a long-standing dream of original director Richard Stanley, who had first read the book as a child. He spent four years developing the project before getting the green-light from New Line Cinema. Although Stanley had envisaged Jürgen Prochnow in the lead role, New Line managed to secure Marlon Brando, but some time later, Stanley learned that New Line had gone behind his back and offered the movie to director Roman Polanski.[11]
Furious, Stanley demanded a meeting with Brando who, unexpectedly, proved very sympathetic to Stanley's vision, not least because of Stanley's intimate understanding of the novel and its history - including its connections with Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness (the main inspiration for Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now) - and because of Stanley's family relation to legendary African explorer Sir Henry Morton Stanley, one of the chief inspirations for Conrad's lead character, Kurtz. According to Stanley, Brando still was fascinated by Kurtz more than 15 years after he had played a version of the character in Coppola's film.[11]
With Brando supporting him, Stanley was confirmed as director, and he was able to recruit two more major stars: Bruce Willis as Edward Prendick, a U.N. negotiator who washes up on Moreau's island after his plane crashes, and James Woods as Montgomery, Moreau's chief assistant. Buoyed by these developments, Stanley enthusiastically launched into pre-production, collaborating with special effects creator Stan Winston on the creation of makeup and costumes for Moreau's hybrid creatures and preparing the location and sets. As the time for principal photography approached, however, problems began to multiply: Bruce Willis withdrew from the film (Stanley says in Lost Soul that the actor was divorcing his wife Demi Moore at the time, but the couple did not announce their separation until the summer of 1998,[12] with the divorce made final two years later).[13]
He was replaced with Val Kilmer, who, to Stanley's dismay, demanded a 40% reduction in the number of days he was required on set. Stanley solved this problem when he had the idea to switch Kilmer from the protagonist to the supporting role of Montgomery, who had far less screen time.[11] However, this meant James Woods had to leave the production. New Line hurriedly recruited former Northern Exposure star Rob Morrow for the lead role. Another significant setback occurred before filming began when Brando's daughter Cheyenne committed suicide. The devastated star retreated to his private island, leaving Stanley and his producers in limbo, not knowing when or if he would show up.[11][14]
Director's cut[edit]
A director's cut was released on Blu-ray on July 24, 2012, and on DVD on April 4, 2017, extending the 96-minute film to 100 minutes.[24]
Reception[edit]
The film was met with negative reviews; Rotten Tomatoes currently rates the film with a 22% "Rotten", based on 36 reviews with the consensus: "Timid and unfocused in its storytelling, The Island of Dr. Moreau is more lackluster misfire than morbid curiosity".[25][26][27] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "C−" on a scale of A+ to F.[28] The film grossed only $49 million worldwide on a $40 million budget, which, with marketing and other expenses, lost money for the studio.[29][30][31][32] In an article written upon Brando's death in 2004, critic Roger Ebert described The Island of Dr. Moreau as "perhaps [Brando's] worst film".[33]
The Island of Dr. Moreau later received six nominations for the Razzie Awards including Worst Picture and Worst Director, winning Worst Supporting Actor for Marlon Brando (Val Kilmer was also a nominee in this category). At the 1996 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, Brando was nominated for Worst On-Screen Hairstyle (which he lost to Stephen Baldwin for Bio-Dome) and won Worst Supporting Actor.[34] The film also got nominations for two Saturn Awards: Best Science Fiction Film and Best Make-up.
Mike Myers has acknowledged that the character of Mini-Me, a miniature version of the villain Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers films, was directly inspired by the character of Majai in this film.[35]