Dom Robinson reviews
The Island of Dr. Moreau
Nature's law has been broken...
Distributed by
Entertainment in Video
- Cert:
- Cat.no: EDV 9081
- Running time: 91 minutes
- Year: 1996
- Pressing: 2000
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 12 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Dolby Surround)
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English
- Widescreen: 2.35:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 5
- Price: £15.99
- Extras : Scene index
Director:
(Birdman of Alcatraz, French Connection II, Grand Prix, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Manchurian Candidate, Ronin, The Train)
Producers:
Screenplay:
Richard Stanley and Ron Hutchinson
(based on the novel by H.G. Wells)
Music:
Cast:
Montgomery: Val Kilmer (At First Sight, Batman Forever, The Doors, The Ghost and the Darkness, Heat, The Island Of Dr. Moreau, The Saint, Tombstone, Top Gun, Top Secret, True Romance)
Dr. Moreau: Marlon Brando (Apocalypse Now, Don Juan De Marco, The Godfather, The Island of Dr. Moreau, Last Tango in Paris, A Streetcar Named Desire, Superman, The Wild One, TV: Roots)
Edward Douglas: David Thewlis (American Perfekt, Besieged, Black Beauty, Divorcing Jack, Dragonheart, The Island of Dr. Moreau, Naked, Restoration, Seven Years in Tibet, Total Eclipse, TV: A Bit of a Do, Prime Suspect 3)
Aissa: Fairuza Balk (American History X, American Perfekt, The Craft, Gas Food Lodging, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Maker, Things To Do in Denver When You're Dead, The Waterboy)
The Island of Dr. Moreau
is a remake of the 1977 film and begins just after Edward Douglas' (David Thewlis)
plane has crash-landed in the sea and he's adrift on the open wave with two crew members
for weeks until they get eaten by a shark. His opening monologue sounds rather like
Malcolm McDowell at the start of A Clockwork Orange.
Rescued from certain death by Montgomery (Val Kilmer), he's taken to the island in the
title and wants to find out more about what's going on there after his curiosity is aroused.
It's safe to say that what the mysterious Dr. Moreau (Marlon Brando, in Michael Jackson
make-up) is up to would be enough to drive the R.S.P.C.A. up the wall as genetic engineering
is taken to the ultimate limits. While looking for clues though, he more like ends up
looking for love as he encounters the alluring and dusky maiden Aissa (Fairuza Balk,
Thewlis' co-star in American Perfekt).
The picture looks very good with no artifacts, but only a few flecks on the print spoiling
the lush nature of the tropical forests and the stunning sweeping vistas of the ocean wave,
all presented in the original 2.35:1 widescreen ratio and anamorphic for widescreen TVs.
The average bitrate is a fine 6.7Mb/s, often hovering around 8Mb/s.
The sound makes for an intriguing listen with special effects lashing out when all hell lets
lose and ambience finding its own target, the sound of a boat creaking early on making me
think that my PC's hard drive was giving up the ghost such was the positioning of my seating
arrangements in relation to the speakers. However, none of it is in the original Dolby Digital
5.1 sound - we just get surround-only here.
Extras :
Chapters :
There are just a mere 12 chapters. Not enough. They're also timed to tell you when they should
change but all those timings are an HOUR out and the last one goes back in time and makes no
sense (!)
Languages and Subtitles :
There's just one language on this disc - English in ProLogic and no subtitles.
We need better than this.
Menu :
A static and silent menu with options to start the film or select a scene. No alarms and no surprises.
What starts off with some promise soon descends into complete and utter nonsense.
There's few laughs to be had, apart from the unintentional ones as Moreau and his sidekick
freaky dwarf perform a piano duet, making them seem like Austin Powers and Mini Me.
Thewlis seems completely out of place, despite his character supposed to being a fish out of
water-type, Kilmer sleepwalks through the film, Fairuza looks as striking as she ever does
despite scowling throughout the film and Brando reaffirms his top position in Hollywood as
one of the worst so-called actors ever given an Equity card. In fact, stepping back a bit,
what the hell has happened to Val Kilmer? He proved he could do comedy with Top Secret!
and drama with the superb The Doors, but has since just thrown his career away with
tripe like this, Batman Forever and
The Saint
.
