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Movies / On DVD / Monkeybone
Monkeybone

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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.

Runtime: 88 mins

Genre: Comedies

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

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1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 >> >|
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The design is often brilliant, although the film is nowhere near as tasteless or funny as it ought to be.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Derek Adams
Derek Adams
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This is a film for people with eyes but no brain.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
04/16/01
Jason Korsner
Jason Korsner
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A welcome antidote to the epidemic of witless, frenetic, secondhand low comedies that gnaw at our brains like antibody-resistant spirochetes.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
02/23/01
A.O. Scott
A.O. Scott
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The filmmaking and creative juices save this otherwise preposterous picture.

Full Review Source: NutzWorld | comment Comment
03/14/01
Blake French
Blake French
NutzWorld

Boasts kooky insight into the thought processes, or lack thereof, behind such arrested fantasies.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment Comment
02/23/01
Bob Strauss
Bob Strauss
Los Angeles Daily News

A giddy madcap classic, one of the wildest and funniest American comedies in years.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
02/23/01
Charles Taylor
Charles Taylor
Salon.com

A distinctive and disturbing nightmare environment.

Full Review Source: Citysearch | comment Comment
02/22/01
Dave Kehr
Dave Kehr
Citysearch

Monkeybone is kind of like a Tim Burton movie - except it wasn't directed by Tim Burton.

Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | comment Comment
08/01/03
David Nusair
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews

There's a special place in my heart for movies that create new worlds for us to inhabit.

Full Review Source: Film Blather | comment Comment
05/22/03
Eugene Novikov
Eugene Novikov
Film Blather

Fun, unpretentious, and well-paced.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
02/22/01
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews

Despite these isolated moments of comic brilliance, as a whole, Monkeybone never quite comes together as it should.

Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk | comment Comment
03/06/01
James Kendrick
James Kendrick
Q Network Film Desk

If you're interested in craziness, loony looking critters and other people's nightmares, there are worse ways to spend 90 minutes.

Full Review Source: San Diego Metropolitan | comment Comment
10/21/02
Jean Lowerison
Jean Lowerison
San Diego Metropolitan

If you don't pay too much attention to the plot ... you should find Monkeybone pretty darn entertaining.

Full Review Source: Planet Sick-Boy | comment Comment
02/22/01
Jon Popick
Jon Popick
Planet Sick-Boy

...an outrageously funny demonstration of how our interior angst can be put into the service of art.

Full Review Source: LarsenOnFilm | comment Comment
01/27/09
Josh Larsen
Josh Larsen
LarsenOnFilm

It's pretty funny. It's absurdist funny, not so much situational as just weird and cool and "yikes!" and surreal.

Full Review Source: Cinerina | comment Comment
10/30/01
Karina Montgomery
Karina Montgomery
Cinerina

An incredible journey of the imagination, darkly humorous and zesty in spirit.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
02/23/01
Kevin Thomas
Kevin Thomas
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

There's unwieldy mess -- but there's also unruly brilliance to this dark and funny story.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
03/01/01
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly

It's wildly visually inventive, and has a surprising edge.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
02/23/01
Maitland McDonagh
Maitland McDonagh
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Hugely entertaining, and funny beyond belief.

Full Review Source: Matt's Movie Reviews | comment Comment
02/27/01
Matt Easterbrook
Matt Easterbrook
Matt's Movie Reviews

Black-humor fans will be amply satisfied.

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
02/23/01
Melanie McFarland
Melanie McFarland
Seattle Times
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating; UK critics are listed first)
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