Ever wonder where Col. Kurtz would've ended up had he survived the end of "Apocalypse Now"? Well, now we know: He exiled himself to a deserted island to create humanimals - the horror, the horror.

This 1996 version of "The Island of Dr. Moreau" was such a troubled production that articles, books and documentaries have been made about it, like the 2014 documentary "Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau." Stanley championed the project, wrote the screenplay and was set to direct, but was fired after a few days of filming due to conflicts with Val Kilmer, who wasn't in the best of moods due to being served divorce papers while on set.

Actually that wasn't the main reason Stanley was fired. He was fine for small indie productions, but he was out of his league with a blockbuster like this. Veteran filmmaker John Frankenheimer was brought in to save the production from being a complete disaster. He got the job done, but his tyrannical approach didn't help matters.

The production was so bad that Fairuza Balk (the cat-lady, Aissa) literally tried to escape the set, but was caught at the airport in the nick of time. Add to this Brando's well-known eccentricities, not helped by the recent suicide of his daughter, Cheyenne, and constant rewrites and you have a formula for a cinematic chaos!

In light of the horrible production and the ensuing bad press you would think this would be a lousy movie, but it's actually not THAT bad. I can see why some people don't like it because parts of the third act are pretty crazy and don't flow very well, but if you're a sucker for lost-on-an-island type yarns and appreciate the mood & insanity of films like "Apocalypse Now" and the original "Planet of the Apes" ("It's a madhouse, a MADHOUSE!") you'll probably appreciate some of it. Don't get me wrong, it's nowhere near the caliber of either of those films, but comparisons are inevitable and there are entertaining bits.

The main problem is that the story isn't that compelling; the flow of the movie is off, which is mostly apparent in the mounting craziness of the final third, which tempts the viewer to tune out.

Thankfully, there are some positives. The title sequence is kinetic and dazzling; the score by Gary Chang is varied and all-around phenomenal; the plot is intriguing; the humanimal make-up and actors are quite good with Daniel Rigney's 'Hyena-Swine' standing out (Rigney would be dead a mere year after the film's release); there's some creative pizazz, like Marlon Brando's 35-minute stint where he's as captivating as always, albeit a fat bastage; the inclusion of Dr. Moreau's "Mini-Me" is hilarious in hindsight of the Austin Powers trilogy; and there are flashes of nigh greatness, like Edward's revelatory talk with Aissa in the third act.

Marlon's Dr. Moreau is a variation of Kurtz, i.e. nutjob in the jungle, albeit twenty years later. For Brando fans it's enjoyable seeing him in his old age. This was one of his final films and it shows that he had his magnetic charm 'til the end.

Furthermore, there are some interesting themes: The humanimals who get to live in Dr. Moreau's abode are more human-like in appearance than the animals living in the smelly humanimal 'village' in the forest; the most human-like one, Aissa, he even refers to as his daughter. Wouldn't this lead to tensions between the factions? Moreover, while Moreau is a benevolent dictator he's still a dictator and dictators are rarely good. When Hyena-Swine usurps the crown he immediately becomes a malevolent dictator.

The original version runs 96 minutes and the DC 99 minutes. The film was shot in Cairns, Queensland, Australia.

GRADE: C+

I loved this film, I can watch it again and again. Quality actors, Good Story put to film imo

During the first portion of this film, I was confused. After all, I remembered when the film debuted and just how scathing the reviews were--yet it didn't seem that bad. Aside from revealing secrets way too quickly and not exactly being original, it was a pretty decent film. But then, to quote Marlon Brando, "...the horror". What went wrong? I have no idea. All I know is that it looked as if the famed director, John Frankenheimer, must have given up and let his cat direct the film. And, as for the writing, it must have been left up to his dog...because this film truly is a dog!

What surprised me is that although his appearance was weird and ghastly, Marlon Brando wasn't bad. Later in life, he seemed to often 'phone in' his performances--and he strayed very, very far from the scripts (which he was famous for not learning or memorizing). Here he might have done the same, but it worked. Val Kilmer, on the other hand, made absolutely no sense and looked as if he was on acid for most of the latter portion of the film. He must have felt pretty embarrassed by all this...or just didn't care (which it really appears to be). I could say more, but Mr. Kilmer is still alive and I'd hate to make him cry. But the biggest surprise I talked about above--Frankenheimer. How could the genius who directed classics like "Day of the Jackel" and "Seconds" make this mess?! Too often instead of brilliance, he gave us explosions, gun fights and bloody guts. What happened?! Why the appeal to stupid people and the sense of nihilism?!

By the way, what did I think was the best moment in the film? Well, actually, there were two. First, when Kilmer's character was killed. Second, when the closing credits began to roll. Yes, the final half of the film is THAT bad! It's especially bad because it took a heck of a lot of money and the film STILL turned out this awful.