The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996 film)

The Island of Dr. Moreau is a 1996 American science fiction horror film. It is the third major film adaptation of the 1896 novel The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells, following Island of Lost Souls (1932 film) and The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977 film). 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.

The film went through a production hell, 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 Val 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.

Marlon Brando's role as Dr. Moreau was supposed to be expanded, but after his daughter, Cheyenne, committed suicide, Brando retreated to his private island, leaving the film 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 John Frankenheimer being brought in to replace him. The film received generally negative reviews and was considered a box office bomb.

In 2014, the documentary Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau was released, covering Richard Stanley's experiences while he conceived and developed the project, his time as director of the film and the aftermath of his departure and the effect it had on the cast, crew and overall film. Val Kilmer also shared some behind-the-scenes footage of the film in the 2021 documentary Val, where he shared his side of the story.

Plot
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, but he escapes that night. He finds a laboratory where he witnesses the birth of a mutant baby, belonging to and delivered by human-animal hybrids.

He is noticed, escapes, and runs into Aissa who leads him to the village of the mutants. They find the partially eaten carcass of a rabbit near the leopard hybrid called Lo-Mai. At the village, they find the Sayer of the Law whose Law preaches "being human" in terms of restraint and discipline. Dr. Moreau, referred to as "the Father" by the mutants, appears. He inflicts pain on the villagers by using a remote control to activate an implant under the creatures' skin as a form of submission. Moreau forces the village to release Douglas and demands Montgomery give Douglas his handgun. Moreau then calmly discusses the situation with Douglas.

Douglas, Montgomery and Moreau gather and he introduces his hybrid "children". He explains his creations: he introduced human DNA into animals in search of a higher being, 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 rabbit, to the disgust of the 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 it is overrun with humanoid rats.

At the trial, Azazello unexpectedly shoots Lo-Mai. His body is burned and a mutant called Hyena-Swine comes, notices the pain implant among his remains, then removes his own. 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 the removed implant and so Montgomery 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 it shows her with cat-themed eyes.

Hyena-Swine and his trackers (now on his side and also free of implants) break into the House and confront Moreau. Angry over their hybrid nature and no longer under his control, they reject humanity and the Law when they kill Moreau. His 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. Azazello shoots a drunken Montgomery dead at the village and Hyena-Swine's faction rampages around the island. Azazello hangs Aissa before being executed by Hyena-Swine, having outlived his usefulness; but 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. Hyena-Swine, finding himself outnumbered and defenseless, retreats into the burning building where he burns alive.

The Sayer of the Law, Majai, and Assassimon see off Douglas as he leaves on a raft. The Sayer of the Law tells Douglas that the hybrids are wanting to return to their natural state of being and believes it is better, so as to end their creator's work. In closing narration, Douglas reflects on the savagery of humans and claims that he leaves the island "in fear".

Cast/ Characters
See Category:Characters in the 1996 adaptation


 * Marlon Brando as Dr. Moreau: A mad scientist who created the Beast Folk, trying to forge the perfect species.
 * Val Kilmer as Dr. Montgomery: A former neurosurgeon who is a vet and enforcer on Dr. Moreau's island
 * David Thewlis as Edward Douglas: A U.N. agent who gets stranded in the middle of the ocean and comes to the island
 * Fairuza Balk as Aissa: A cat-themed hybrid and Moreau's "daughter", who looks more human than the other hybrids and becomes Douglas's love interest.
 * Daniel Rigney as Hyena-Swine: A vicious hyena and pig hybrid
 * Temuera Morrison as Azazello: A dog-themed hybrid and Moreau's "son", who is assigned to find the hybrids
 * Nelson de la Rosa as Majai: A miniature version of Dr. Moreau who does not speak
 * Peter Elliott as Assassimon: A baboon-themed hybrid who is the only primate hybrid and Five Finger Man. Vocals provided by an uncredited Frank Welker.
 * Mark Dacascos as Lo-Mai: A leopard hybrid who is accused of breaking the laws (suckling water from a stream, walking on all fours and eating flesh)
 * Ron Perlman as the Sayer of the Law: A blind goat-themed hybrid who is the priest figure among the hybrids
 * Marco Hofschneider as M'Ling: A servant of Dr. Moreau.
 * Miguel López as Waggdi
 * William Hootkins as Kiril
 * Richard Stanley snuck onto the set as an extra, a bulldog man.

Locations

 * Java Sea
 * The Island of Dr. Moreau (location)
 * Beach
 * Moreau's Compound
 * Village

Objects

 * Amulet Remote Control
 * Serum
 * Implant
 * Guns

Versions
The movie was based on Richard Stanley's 1994 screenplay. Features like baseball, sex scenes and Moreau riding a horse didn't make it into the movie.

The 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. See a comparison at https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=463474

Comparison to other versions of Moreau

 * The Island of Doctor Moreau (book): Both have the fight scene on the raft and a fight with the hyena-swine, as opposed to most versions.
 * The Island of Dr. Moreau (1994 screenplay): Assassimon has a baseball bat. In the screenplay it was originally for playing baseball, but in the movie he just beats it on the ground aimlessly.

By topic


 * Catwoman: Aissa is another catwoman. Acoording to Richard Stanley in Lost Soul, this was not intentional and his intentions were removed to make her more like the stereotypical catwomen in versions prior.

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