Monkeybone

Starring Brendan Fraser, Bridget Fonda, the voice of John Turturro, Rose McGowan, Giancarlo Esposito, Dave Foley, Megan Mullally, and Whoopi Goldberg. Based on the graphic novel by Kaja Blackley & Vanessa Chong, screenplay by Sam Hamm. Directed by Henry Selick.

I quite enjoyed Henry Selick’s earlier piece, The Nightmare Before Christmas, so when I saw the preview for Monkeybone I knew that I had to see it, if nothing else to see the live-action blended with both CGI and puppetry that was reminiscent of Nightmare.

Based on the graphic novel by Blackley and Chong (entitled "Dark Town"), Monkeybone is cinema of the absurd. If you think about it too much your brain will begin to hurt, but if you realise that the entire film is an absurdity, then you’ll do fine. The premise, such as it is, is that comic strip creator Stu Miley (get it, S.Miley? If you don’t, it’s on the jacket that he wears throughout the movie) has created a wise-cracking know-it-all monkey called, appropriately enough, Monkeybone, and this popular comic-strip is being turned into a TV show. Simple enough I guess. In the opening sequence, Stu and girlfriend Bridget Fonda (looking as beautiful as ever) get into a cartoon-violence type automobile accident, and Stu is thrown into a coma. While Bridget tries to keep Stu’s sister Megan Mullally from "pulling the plug" on Stu, Stu’s sub-conscious travels to the land of Downtown (which is just a train stop away from the Land of Death), and has to endure a wicked carnival type purgatory until either he dies or wakes up.

The Downtown sequences are by far the best aspects of the entire film. Carefully blending live-action (with incredible make-up and mask effects) with some stop-motion and cgi animation, Downtown is depicted as the place that all living creatures stop over to before departing the mortal plane. It’s here that Stu meets a larger-than-life version of Monkeybone, voiced by John Turturro, who is just as obnoxious in Downtown as Stu has made him out to be in the real-world comic and cartoon.

Once Stu gets to downtown, the story takes a turn for the worse. It seems that The denizens of Downtown have only one form of entertainment, that’s viewing other people’s nightmares. Stu apparently used to have the best nightmares, until Bridget Fonda (who’s playing a doctor) cured him of his problems. Now the citizens of Downtown don’t have good nightmares, and they hatch a plan to get them back, which involves sending Monkeybone back to the real-world, only in Stu’s body. Stu figures out a way to escape Downtown as well, and ends up in Chris Kattan’s body, with only one problem; Chris Kattan’s character is dead.

The remainder of the film focuses on Stu’s attempts to get Monkeybone back to Downtown, and to get his own body back. This creates some hilarious physical comedy, and also some extremely silly chase scenes. A happy ending is achieved and the audience goes home left to wonder what the heck they’ve just seen.

Overall Monkeybone isn’t a bad film, and I actually enjoyed quite a bit of it, there’s just something missing, and I just can’t put my finger on it. There wasn’t enough Downtown sequences, and they stayed too close to a story-line. Sort of the same complaint I had with Kids in the Hall:Brain Candy, sticking too closely to the plot. There’s also no explanation as to why Stu’s sister wants to "pull the plug" on him, which would have been nice. There are some other plot holes as well, but in the cinema of the absurd, that’s not that important.

The Downtown, and Land of Dead sequences are absolutely brilliant, as are Whoopi Goldberg as Death. Rose McGowan also SHINES as Kitty, the only character in Downtown who is willing to help Stu. McGowan’s assets are on ample display as well.

One warning though, the film is being marketed towards children, (think Roger Rabbit). It’s not for children, in the same way that Ralph Bakshi’s animated/live-action effort Cool World wasn’t for children. It’s also not making much money, because of bad reviews, so if you’re interested, go see it quickly, as it is worth checking out on the big screen, if for nothing else, than the other-worldly sequences.

My rating *** out of 5.