Review of The Island of Dr. Moreau

'The Island of Dr. Moreau,' a retelling of the H.G. Wells' classic, plays like a '70's TV movie. It isn't awful, but neither is it very convincing or scary. Certain elements are fine; the dialogue is literate and the performances by Burt Lancaster, Michael York, Barbara Carrera, and Nigel Davenport are all good. The island locations are beautiful. But the essential creepiness of Wells' story is missing completely. One mistake is very apparent- far too many of the scenes take place during the day when they obviously cry out to be shot at night. The make-up of the 'humanoids' is too neat and tidy as well; they mostly look like variations of Lon Chaney Jr.'s Wolf Man or the aliens in 'Star Trek,' animal faces and perfectly-coiffed hair. Whenever they go on a rampage, you feel like you're watching some half-ass, low-budget zombie flick. Lancaster might not seem like the perfect choice to play the eccentric, mad Dr. Moreau but he does an admirable job, at times lifting the film above its pedestrian level to something closer to what Wells intended, and York's portrayal of the stranded seaman Braddock is fine too. (Behind the make-up of the 'Sayer of the Law' is none other than Richard Basehart, of all people. You know, Admiral Nelson from 'Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.' Talk about casting against type!) Here and there, 'The Island of Dr. Moreau' threatens to become genuinely frightening but it never manages to adequately bring to life the horrific ideas of Wells' novel, which are monstrously disturbing, as anyone who's read it can attest. The living nightmare the creatures must endure, not knowing who or what they are, is barely hinted at and represented in a way that resembles more a Saturday morning kid's show like 'Land of the Lost' or one of Irwin Allen's numerous TV shows, such as 'Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.' (Hmm...) Moreau's attempt to reverse his experiment by turning Braddock from man to animal is promising; it's too little, too late though and the idea is never fully explored. Some of the final shots of Moreau's camp burning to the ground while the now-dead doctor himself hangs from a railing in the foreground are impressive too, but the movie hasn't really earned them. The brutal truth is that 'The Island of Dr. Moreau' isn't gruesome enough. It's hard to imagine H.G. Wells being pleased with this take on his brilliant novel.