In a Nutshell. Mini reviews of movies old and new. No fuss. No spoilers. And often no sleep.

Tuesday 9 June 2015

The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996)

It’s all fine for the first while, but once the painted white boulder that is Marlon Brando rolls into the story the entire production goes right off the rails. He seems to want to sabotage every scene he’s in, dragging everyone, including his Mini-Me, down with the whole tropical ship.
Kilmer didn't want to be there and it shows. His performance is shockingly bad.
Dir. John Frankenheimer is the only one with anything resembling an excuse for being off, he’d no time to prepare, having come to the project half a week into shooting after the previous director was removed. Still, he appears to make little effort to turn it into anything other than a pay cheque.
I feel sorry for Thewlis, Balk and Perlman, all of whom at least made some effort despite the odds stacked against them.

1½ hybrid moments out of 5

2 comments:

cuckoo said...

I enjoyed parts of this one when it first came out.
I remember it not being very good but still found something to like.

Worked in a movie theater during it's first run so saw it several times then.

Haven't seen it since.

Don't much want to again, other than to see the travesty that is Kilmer & Brando deliberately sabotaging the film for poor Thewlis. :(

Dr Faustus said...

‘...several times...’

*shudder