SteveResin Legendary movie I only saw once, back in the day when it was released. I remember watching it with mouth wide open, aghast at what I was seeing. It's widely regarded as one of the worst films in history, and in many ways it is, if you consider the quality of the cast, director and budget.But revisiting it 20 years later after seeing the interesting documentary "Lost Souls" about this car crash of a movie, I didn't find it quite so bad. It's poor, no doubt about it, but it's not tedious and mind numbing in a Battlefield Earth kind of way and nowhere near real dross like Batman & Robin or The Spirit. It's entertaining for many reasons, chief among them being Marlon Brando's blatant trolling of the entire production, insisting on wearing white make up and using buckets instead of hats to keep his head cool. His performance is worth the admission alone.The rest is worth watching for the implosion of Val Kilmer's career as an A-List actor. Fresh from the success of films like The Doors, Batman Forever and Heat he was apparently extremely arrogant during the making of this film, and he just oozes apathy in every scene he's in. If he truly was as insufferable as he's been accused of in "Lost Souls" then karma certainly paid him a visit here, as his career never recovered from this wreck. Fairuza Balk is decent and tries her best with weak material, Ron Perlman is solid as always, but David Thewlis is miscast, his North England accent and bad teeth detracting from his performance. But those scenes with Brando and the worlds smallest man as his freaky sidekick are pure gold.The make up effects are decent, and the location is gorgeous. Everything else is terrible. But it's certainly entertaining, even if it for all the wrong reasons.

fullam-david It's pointless to go into all that went on behind the scenes of this monumental turkey, superb articles and a truly excellent documentary (Lost Soul) have already done so. Suffice to say, had we gotten the original Richard Stanley film (the script is to be found online), we might have gotten a modern Science Fiction/Horror masterpiece along the lines of John Carpenter's The Thing. Instead we got one of the biggest film fiascos, perhaps, of all time. Marlon Brando looks (and acts) an utter fool as Moreau. So sad to see what was America's greatest actor as an overweight mime/clown, his glory days long gone. Val Kilmer is equally horrible in his role, on an incredible ego trip via the Batman film he was in, he gives a truly embarrassing performance that rightfully helped to derail his career. Fairuza Balk, at least, tries real hard. She was utterly disgusted at Stanley's firing and wanted desperately to quit the film. But contractually bound, she was forced to stay. She does well to hide the strain and give a good performance. But it's a shame she has to be associated with this. Other than that, it's the magnificent make up FX of the Stan Winston Studio that shines, and the beast men and women are very, very impressive.In the end, it gives misfire a new name and only further sullied the later, downward spiral, career of John Frankenheimer. Island of Lost Souls easily trumps this. Even the 1977 version is better. Honestly.

Nigel P This is adapted from the story by HG Wells in 1896, which was famously filmed as 'The Island of Lost Souls' in 1932, concerning animal/human hybrids.Initially, Douglas's (David Thewlis) disrespectful comments about Moreau's cross-bred children, whilst in their presence, grinds alongside their exemplary manners. Indeed, the agent is told there is not one note of malice in them. However, it soon becomes obvious that Moreau's control over them is far from humane, and the good doctor is – not that there was ever much doubt – insane.Marlon Brando wrestles with an upper-crust British accent and some outsized false teeth. The accent is perfect, the prosthetics less so, rendering occasional moments of dialogue incomprehensible. His performance though, is terrific. Dangerous and a lot of fun. From his first appearance, draped in white, outsized sunglasses and a full face smothered in white 'sunblock', he is delightfully bizarre.The film loses something when Brando's presence is removed, and events become a bit of a jumble. Val Kilmer's Montgomery, who takes Moreau's place, is good, but he's no Marlon Brando.Ultimately, 'The Island of Doctor Moreau' is a thoroughly enjoyable film. David Thewlis (who joined the film after shooting had started, replacing another actor) initially seems miscast as Douglas, but he soon proves himself as the talented actor he is. The same can be said for the various hybrids, most of who really take advantage of the excellent make-up jobs and imbue them with tangible emotion which would be lost if everything was achieved with CGI.It is difficult to ignore the critical mauling the film received, due in part to a series of unfortunate occurrences behind the scenes. Viewed almost 20 years after its release – and I speak as someone yet to see the original Charles Laughton version, so therefore have no other film to compare this to – I found it hugely enjoyable.

redalert51 Essentially the " Directors Cut " or should say is the unrated cut ,scenes , such as the beginning of the beast peoples take over which is more blood thirty , the killing , of Dr Moreau , teeth biting into his flesh , also there is one " Hyena Swine " chews the doctors ( father, the) arm off with inter-cuts of various animal people's blood soaked teeth. I personally believe , how a few minutes of graphic shoots shown, in sequence , can make the difference . The reason for my mid rating is , the blu ray release , did not not have the any bonus features , no commentary track , extended documentaries or a retrospect of people who work on the film , I do not know if the DVD release , has the features I mentioned , I perused , one release online and there were no indication of any features . Though the picture are excellent on the Blu ray and likewise with the audio , I hope this will be of help , to interested parties of this much maligned film ....Thank you , for the opportunity ..