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Amazon.co.uk Review
Henry Selick’s Monkeybone is another of the director’s brave experiments in combining various forms of animation following his successes with The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach. Two-dimensional, stop-motion, CGI and muppetry effects whizz by with casual dazzle, but sometimes a collection of great ideas isn’t just enough for moviegoers, and audiences summarily dismissed Monkeybone at the cinema. Shame really, because the eye-popping design deserves as big a screen as possible to drink it all in.
Adapted from a graphic novel the story concerns cartoonist Stu Miley (a suitably schizophrenic Brendan Fraser) who finds himself in a hellish purgatory called Downtown after a freak car accident puts him in a coma. Once there, he must find a way to cheat Death in the person of Whoopi Goldberg. There are complications, however. In the real world his girlfriend (Bridget Fonda) is battling to prevent his family pulling the plug, and his comic character alter ego Monkeybone has come to life as a randy stop-motion whirligig of bad taste and ideas.
Although visually the film is a feast of inventive ideas--the amazing look of the Pyjama Party and the Land of Death are truly impressive--ultimately Monkeybone stands or falls by its sense of humour. But then it’s all a matter of taste. If the sight of a possessed organ donor jumping off the operating table and running around with a broken neck isn’t for you, avoid. If seeing Fraser ham it up as he’s enjoyed doing before in the likes of George of the Jungle, then enjoy!--Paul Tonks
DVD Description
DVD Special Features:
Interactive Menus
Scene Access
Language: English 5.1
Subtitles: English for the hearing impaired
Widescreen Version 16:9, 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A film in need of an audience......,
By A Customer
This review is from: Monkeybone [DVD] [2001] (DVD)
'Monkeybone' is the story of cartoonist Stu Miley (Fraser) and what happens to him after he is involved in a car accident and sent plummeting to the nightmarish world of 'Downtown', (the place where people go while they are waiting to die) where he encounters his zany cartoon creation, the eponymous 'Monkeybone' from the title. Seizing the opportunity for mischief, Monkeybone escapes back into the real world and inhabits Stu's body, causing much mayhem, while Stu is left in 'Downtown' with no means of escape. Or has he...?'Monkeybone' has much going for it as a film - visually it is stunning, especially the scenes which take place in 'Downtown', a place reminiscent of 'Halloween Town' from Tim Burton's 'A Nightmare before Christmas' (also directed by Henry Selick), and it also boasts some great performances by it's actors. Brendan Fraser gives a fantastic performance as Stu Miley, and also as 'Stu-Bone', where he gets to flex those comic muscles full tilt as he literally becomes a monkey in a mans body! (and boy!... can he wear leather well!) Chris Katton, as the Organ Donor, is hilarious as is Whoopi Goldberg as 'Death with attitude', and John Turturro excels as the voice of the cartoon Monkeybone. However, Monkeybone is far from perfect. For starters, this is a film that doesn't know what it wants to be. After watching the deleted scenes, you then, and only then, get an idea of how dark this film could have been if only it hadn't been hacked to pieces by an over exuberant editing team. You get the feeling, the powers that be were trying to tame it down for a younger audience and tie it into merchandising opportunities. Sadly, it didn't work. Despite a colossal budget and big name actors, Monkeybone was declared a commercial flop when it opened in the US in 2001 and has gone straight to DVD/VHS pretty much everywhere else. A shame, because this is one gem that is worth a watch, regardless of it's flaws.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Beetlejuice meets Roger Rabbit ?,
By
This review is from: Monkeybone [DVD] [2001] (DVD)
I rather like Brendon Fraser films - I think he's a pretty reasonable actor and his films are usually bearable.
BUT... This film was been sold as being a `hilarious comic-adventure' and that's nothing but a BIG FIB !! Also I can see how this film is clearly not to everyone's tastes, as its rather strange and very `arty' in places (though personally I quite like it). The main character has a mischievous cartoon-character sidekick (reminiscent of a ruder version of Roger Rabbit) and he becomes trapped in a fantasy dream world very much like the afterlife-world in the classic movie Beetlejuice. However, this film isn't really an alternate version of Beetlejuice or Roger Rabbit - it seems to be a patch-work quilt made from lots of ideas borrowed from other films... It has elements of the following films :-`Cool World', The Mask, Heaven Can Wait, Shivers (about a rogue spirit inhabiting a revived persons body) and it even a large dash of Alice in Wonderland thrown in for good measure ! This ISN'T a rip-roaringly funny film, the gags are few and far between... Some of the humour in this film is a little `unsubtle' and is certainly unsuitable for small children (e.g, visual gags about erections and at one point human internal organs are being flung around !). However, it does have a couple of vaguely amusing moments and the pace of this film is fast so it never becomes dull. Visually this film is very impressive, any hardcore Tim Burton / Beetlejuice fans will probably enjoy the bizarre surreal suedo-gothic imagery and characters Brendon encounters in his dream world. The irrepressible Whoopee Goldberg puts in a surprising appearance as `Death', who has to send her Grim Reapers out into the real world to collect souls. Unfortunately - it just seems like Whoppee is in this film for a bit of fun and doesn't really do anything for the part she is playing. Some of the characters (particularly a female pussy-lady and a stunted devil-like character) seemed very interesting but we just don't seem to see very much of them. I'd have liked a bit more dialogue and a few more scenes for these characters, rather than just the brief introductions they seemed to get. Could this film have been better ? Yes ! MUCH !! Its not a bad film, its not boring and it seems to work - BUT a better script, more scenes, more characterisation, a bit more humour and perhaps even Jim Carrey in the lead role would have made it much better !
3.0 out of 5 stars
the films o.k.,
By alex (Bedford, England/uk) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Monkeybone [VHS] [2001] (VHS Tape)
The film is o.k. if i had a choice whether or not to watch it i probably wouldn't! it does however have some funny bits but it has a talking monkey and involves a world where everyone it is in a coma!
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