Perhaps Selick was so intent on getting the crazy stuff right, he neglected to look at the mundane things, like continuity and a good script.
Monkeybone (2001)
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Reviews Counted:111
Fresh:21
Rotten:90
Average Rating:3.8/10
Consensus: Though original and full of bizarre visuals, Monkeybone is too shapeless a movie, with unengaging characters and random situations that fail to build up laughs.
Theatrical Release:Feb 23, 2001 Wide
Box Office: $4,942,155
Synopsis: MONKEYBONE, directed by Henry Selick (JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH, THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS), is a fantasy adventure that combines live action, stop motion, claymation miniatures, puppets, and... MONKEYBONE, directed by Henry Selick (JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH, THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS), is a fantasy adventure that combines live action, stop motion, claymation miniatures, puppets, and computer imaging. Monkeybone is a cartoon character created by a successful comic book illustrator named Stu Miley (Brendan Fraser). (He wears a coat with the tag S. Miley, which is a good hint at the film's brand of pun-filled humor.) On the night that Stu is going to propose marriage to his girlfriend, Julie (Bridget Fonda), a freak accident throws him into a coma. Though he appears unconscious, lying in a hospital bed, he is actually having the strangest experience of his lifetime inside his own head. Trapped in a bizarre amusement park called Downtown, the land where nightmares are stored, Stu comes face to face with a living version of the small, mischievous Monkeybone (a stop-action paraffin sculpture voiced by John Turturro). The other inhabitants of Downtown are either part-humans like the seductive cat woman, Kitty (Rose McGowan) and the mysterious face of Death (Whoopi Goldberg), or beasts--Cyclops, Minotaurs, and Centaurs. While dodging obstacles from his own nightmares, Stu strives to break out of his coma and return to his true love. Little does he know, Monkeybone has plans of his own. [More]
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Bridget Fonda, Chris Kattan, Dave Foley
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Bridget Fonda, Chris Kattan, Dave Foley, Whoopi Goldberg, Rose McGowan, Christopher Franciosa, Giancarlo Esposito, Megan Mullally, Mary Pierce, Bob Odenkirk, John Turturro
Director: Henry Selick
Director: Henry Selick
Screenwriter: Sam Hamm
Producer: Mark Radce, Michael Barnathan
Composer: Anne Dudley
Studio: 20th Century Fox
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Reviews for Monkeybone
The film tells us, we all have, or would like to have, a little Monkeybone inside of us. Well, hopefully not.
Stands as a prime example of virtually everything that's wrong with Hollywood right now.
Fraser is first-rate both as Stu and as the Stu body with Monkey Bone inside.
If you don't pay too much attention to the plot ... you should find Monkeybone pretty darn entertaining.
Selick is so delighted by his own Dali-esque, head-trippy visuals that he fails to get across even the basics of the story.
A 'live-action' fantasy increasingly trapped in a cluttered corner by cartoonish ideas.
Often so overwhelming that even its dull, dead moments (of which there are many, unfortunately) leave you wondering what you're missing and what you've just forgotten.
The story is frustrating in its refusal to stick to any logical core -– emotionally or otherwise.
Without Burton to guide him, Selick fails to meet the challenge of mining laughs from the potentially morbid material.
A silly, creaky, pop-art contraption that short-changes its serious philosophical and psychological underpinnings in favor of juvenile gags and gimmicks.
Has so few solid guideposts that this imagery just sort of floats by, never quite managing to become as evocative as it ought to be.
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