THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 27, 1996 TAG: 9608261201
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: 75 lines
It's a jungle out there, but it's no better back in the laboratory.
The third screen version of H.G. Wells' 1896 novel ``The Island of Dr. Moreau'' is, to put it mildly, a mess. It's never scary and is entertaining only when it is campy.
The main attraction, although he's more a carnival side show, is the legendary Marlon Brando, who has the title role (playing the doctor, not the island). Brando makes his entrance, carried by his slaves, in a garb of veils, white robes and mosquito netting. His face is covered with a white paint that looks as if it were borrowed from Baby Jane Hudson or a kabuki veteran gone mad. Muttering something like ``I think I'm simply going to perish from the heat,'' he calls attention to the ice bucket he wears on his head - accessorized by a chin strap.
Of course, he's putting us on, but there is the leveling hint that maybe he's been putting us on all these years. With the exception of his performance in ``On the Waterfront'' (and even that was mannered) there is no real support for those who maintain he was the great American actor. But he always puts on quite a show.
Dr. Moreau, we are told, won the Nobel Prize ``for inventing Velcro'' and has, for the past 17 years, been hiding out on this remote island, experimenting with gene transplants that turn animals into humans. The resulting creatures grope around and grunt a bit, but, in terms of modern movie gore, they are not likely to scare anyone. They look as if they're fugitives from a bus-and-truck tour of ``Planet of the Apes.''
The animals have electronic implants to keep them submissive. Unfortunately for the director and screenwriters, the audience is not issued such an implant.
Val Kilmer plays the bad doctor's cynical assistant. His assignment seems mainly to parade around shirtless and in shorts in an effort to tease the visiting sane-person, played by British actor David Thewlis. Kilmer uses what swagger he has left from his Jim Morrison impersonation in ``The Doors.''
Given Thewlis' memorably sleazy performance in ``Naked'' (a superbly unnerving movie that too few people saw), it is somewhat surprising that he is cast as the logical, conventional character here. Fairuza Balk (who was Dorothy in the disastrous ``Return to Oz'' before she took her clothes off for ``Dangerous Liaisons'') is Brando's hybrid daughter.
The film's production was reportedly a good deal more dramatic than what was captured on film. Kilmer, who is becoming notorious for on-set demands and hi-jinks, aligned with Brando in getting the original director fired. Apparently arriving too late to save anything was veteran John Frankenheimer, who just let his high-strung stars run wild, and took the money.
In a last-ditch effort to try to make the film have some logic, there is a final scene with some muttering about how humans are trying to play God - and are close to becoming beasts.
At one point, one of the beasts groans that it's really difficult to walk on two legs.
Not if you're headed for the door marked ``Exit.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
NEW LINE CINEMA
The legendary actor is more of a carnival side show than a main
attraction.
Photo
NEW LINE CINEMA
The character played by David Thewlis is a beacon of sanity.
Graphic
MOVIE REVIEW
``The Island of Dr. Moreau''
Cast: Marlon Brando, Val Kilmer, David Thewlis, Fairuza Balk, Ron
Perlman
Director: John Frankenheimer
MPAA rating: PG-13 (some gore, some language)
Mal's rating: One 1/2 stars by CNB