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Powerful

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

David Thewlis' twitchy performance is so irritating I could barely sit thru it, and as for Brando... roll eyes... yeesh. The screenplay mercilessly exposes all the weaknesses in the source material, and the director's utter inability to make even one character sympathetic makes the film's Grand Guignol aspect rather tedious.The only plot development I could react to with even a flicker of mild interest was the escape scene at the end; I thought it was a pity that anyone escaped, as they were all so disagreeable. And then - the moralizing voice-over! Did they honestly think we didn't *GET IT*????? Yowza!I would recommend that fans with an extreme carnal interest in Mr. Kilmer's physical charms should rent the video, and plan to make liberal use of the fast-forward button. What a dog. YMMV, of course.

The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996)** (out of 4)Edward Douglas (David Thewlis) is found floating at sea in a raft and is saved when a boat being led by a man named Montgomery (Val Kilmer) comes to the rescue. The two men end up back on an island where all sorts of strange creatures are. These creatures, it turns out, are the work of Dr. Moreau (Marlon Brando) who is trying to creature the perfect mix of human and animal.When I originally saw this film in 1996 I was shocked at how bad it was and I couldn't help but wonder how it turned out so bad. Then we got a brilliant documentary by David Gregory, which explains what happened during the production so I decided to re-visit the movie and I was surprised to see that time has actually been rather kind to the picture. There's no question that it's still a complete mess, which is no wonder considering what happened during the production but at the same time there's quite a bit of good things to be had here.For starters, the special effects are actually wonderful and this is especially true for the make-up effects. The animal people's make-up is terrific and you actually feel as if you're looking at a real mix between humans and animals. Of course, these effects are a major step up from the stuff we had seen in earlier version. Another major plus is that the story manages to do a good job in the creatures "problems" with who they are. There are many scenes where they want to know if they're human or some sort of animal and I found these scenes to be rather intelligent.The performances are also something that took a beating when the film was originally released but outside of Kilmer phoning in his performance, what we get here is actually pretty good. Thewlis makes for a good leading man and Fairuza Balk is good in her role of the panther woman. The various actors who appear as the creatures do a very good job at well and especially how hard it is to "act" with all that make-up on. Then, there's Marlon Brando. I hated his performance the first time I saw it but I must admit that it worked for me on this viewing. I thought he did a rather good job playing the "father" to these and I actually liked the way he tried to parent these creatures.Of course, that doesn't cover some of the really bad stuff here including the entire sequence with the ice bucket on his head. Other decisions the actor made like the white make-up was also incredibly silly and just doesn't fit in the film. Another problem with the movie is the entire relationship between Douglas and the panther woman just doesn't work. There's also obvious issues with the production that shines through including a rather action-packed and silly ending. I'd also argue that it just seems like the original film wanted to be something more intelligent but that was scraped.THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU still isn't a good movie but at the same time it's certainly not as bad as it was viewed in 1996. I'm one of the people who really crushed this film when it was released but this latest viewing had me seeing it a tad bit better. Still, you can't help but call this a disappointment since the materials were there for something much better.

While this film has been written off by the filmerati types, that is only just the start of its appeal. Marlin Brando is unleashed here, and with absolute effortless extracts from his repertoire a delicious, eliding performance that dominates the film. However the transcendance of medium achieved here relies on David Thewlis and Val Kilmer as well. Each of main leads bring their own rich flavour of campiness. The happless Thewlis brings a turn of the century stilted formality to pay at least part homage to the original work, which is otherwise deservingly massacred. This arch patina of homoeroticism is in turn burnished up to a flashy sterile veneer by Val Kilmer's fleckless self prostitution. The dynamic between the two, compelling in itself, is both eclipsed and illuminated by the pure radiating light that is Brando. The three form a constellation of pulsing chaos that drives the film though its myriad of clichés punctuated with whatever viceral imagery stayed off the cutting room floor. The result shows film, even in the vacuum of commericality and popular culture, can attain an artistry as rich as any other form in history.

Balk smolders. So what? Brando emotes. Interesting. Kilmer embarrasses himself. Perlman growls. Thewlis tries. Worth watching just to see how bad a movie with a great cast and a great director can be. Gratuitous violence, but tame by today's standards. Doesn't help. The 1977 version had Barbara Carrera, so we forgive that. The original (Island of Lost Souls), even in black and white, with a low budget, is far better. This cast makes the ailing, hammy Bela Lugosi look like Oscar material. Brando, for all his talent, doesn't touch Laughton. Frankenheimer makes a couple of points. Men and animals aren't that far apart. The law is determined by the point of a gun. And artistic pretension doesn't make a bad movie better. Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.