Shipwrecked sailor Andrew Braddock (Michael York) is washed up on a remote island where he encounters the mysterious Dr Moreau (Burt Lancaster), who has been using his special serum to turn animals into beast/human hybrids. These furries are kept under control by the mad scientist, who punishes any law-breakers with a trip to the house of pain (where they jump around, jump around, jump up, jump up and get down!), but how long can the creatures control their wild side?
Based on H. G. Wells 1896 novel of the same name, The Island of Dr Moreau questions the morality of playing god and meddling with science, particularly when pain and suffering are involved for the subjects. Moreau intends to eventually reduce human suffering by breeding out human defects, but his methods are inhumane, reminiscent of experiments in eugenics during WWII; Moreau is the real monster, eventually trying his serum on a human - Braddock! Of course, things don't turn out well for the scientist: his guinea pigs (actually, they're bears, boars and big cats) revert to their animalistic ways and turn on their master.
I have two main problems with this film. Firstly, it plays out predictably: the plot moves from A to B with no surprises and the creatures' revolt at the climax is inevitable. Secondly, the make-up - praised by so many - looked to me like little more than rubber masks and some fake fur (probably because that's what it is); it's reminiscent of the ape make-up from Planet of the Apes almost a decade earlier. Surely make-up techniques had advanced a little since 1968. Less bothersome, but still a bit niggly: why wasn't Maria (Barbara Carrera) revealed to be one of the animals at the end? It feels as though this was the original intention but director Don Taylor wimped out at the last moment. A shame, because it would have been a much better ending than the one the film has.
Based on H. G. Wells 1896 novel of the same name, The Island of Dr Moreau questions the morality of playing god and meddling with science, particularly when pain and suffering are involved for the subjects. Moreau intends to eventually reduce human suffering by breeding out human defects, but his methods are inhumane, reminiscent of experiments in eugenics during WWII; Moreau is the real monster, eventually trying his serum on a human - Braddock! Of course, things don't turn out well for the scientist: his guinea pigs (actually, they're bears, boars and big cats) revert to their animalistic ways and turn on their master.
I have two main problems with this film. Firstly, it plays out predictably: the plot moves from A to B with no surprises and the creatures' revolt at the climax is inevitable. Secondly, the make-up - praised by so many - looked to me like little more than rubber masks and some fake fur (probably because that's what it is); it's reminiscent of the ape make-up from Planet of the Apes almost a decade earlier. Surely make-up techniques had advanced a little since 1968. Less bothersome, but still a bit niggly: why wasn't Maria (Barbara Carrera) revealed to be one of the animals at the end? It feels as though this was the original intention but director Don Taylor wimped out at the last moment. A shame, because it would have been a much better ending than the one the film has.