Charles van Buren's Reviews > The Island of Doctor Moreau

This 1896 sci-fi novel is one of H.G. Wells' best known works. In addition to having been printed in multiple editions since 1896, it has also been adapted for film several times. Charles Laughton, Burt Lancaster and Marlon Brando have all had their turns at starring in movies based on the novel. Of these, only the 1932 Charles Laughton version, The Island of Lost Souls, has achieved widespread acclaim. The 1996 John Frankenheimer film with Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer was widely panned by critics and audiences. After his experiences making this movie, Frankenheimer said words to the effect that Val Kilmer was the most seriously disturbed individual with whom he had ever worked. There have also been lower budget movies, silent movies and radio adaptations.

Part of the reason movies based on the book have been difficult to make maybe that instead of writing a straight forward sci-fi adventure or horror tale, Wells delved deeply into philosophical issues. He explored such things as human nature and identify, interference with the natural world and God's order of things, the existence and nature of God and pain and cruelty. Wells later called the book "...an exercise in youthful blasphemy." Unfortunately Wells did not mature and outgrow it. Instead he became a prominent British opponent of Christianity and other religions . In his book, GOD THE INVISIBLE KING, he rejected traditional organized religion accepting a "...renascent or modern religion ... neither atheist nor Buddhist nor Mohammedan or Christian ..."

If all of this sounds a bit dull, it is in places. Fortunately it is basically a good story. However, if you want a more exciting, fun read based upon a somewhat similar idea, you may want to try The Monster Men by Edgar Rice Burroughs. True, it contains what some critics have called some of his worst writing but it is also an exciting adventure which refuses to roll over and die despite the criticism of Burroughs' prose.

Addendum 2/3/24: Amazon has removed this review.