When first picking up this book, one would believe it to be a plain, science fiction based story, but as both the movie and the book depict, it is not. The book portrays a futuristic sense and it is set in the future, as the movie is set during current time. Both stories begin the same, with a `crew' of guys who have wrecked, and become lost in the seas. Two of the men begin to fight and later fall off the raft and drown, leaving Edward Douglass to survive when he is met up with a ship that later leaves him stranded on Dr. Moreau's Island. While the movie is depicting the story as a plane crash and more modern without the touch of futuristic belief, it still follows the stories plot line, strictly. Due to this `modernization' of this story, it takes away from the full affect the book had given. With this in mind, it is a negative feeling for the movie. The interpretation is just not what it should be. Following along with the strict plot regime, an underlying theme begins to play out; it is relevant throughout the book and movie. This does not make up for the lack of H.G. Wells' style. The theme of a disbelief of a utopian society plays out. The ideas of a totalitarian society begin to come to light as the `projects' of Dr. Moreau realize what is truly happening. Concluding, the book was transformed into the standards of modern movie making. These `standards' help to ruin books all around. This being the case I would highly prefer the book to the movie. The book depicts a much more vivid and horrific scene of dictatorship, while the movie despite making me fall asleep twice, turned me away from the theme of the story.