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Rated PG-13 for crude humor and some nudity. RATING CANADA... Rated AA for crude humour and disturbing images |
 Comedy Madness takes control |
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Quick everyone hide your bananas...there's a monkey on the loose. No ennuendo here even though MONKEYBONE has its share of them. From the moment that Stu Miley (Brendan Fraser) falls into a coma he has to deal with a monkey on his back, on his head and in his body. Henry Selick who directed THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS as well as JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH started off on the right foot with this film but half way through it seemed to lose itself. Don't get me wrong, it was still a funny film but it would have been a much better film if Tim Burton had directed MONKEYBONE. His style would have suited the style of this film. Burton's knack for strange backgrounds and weird characters would have fit this film like a glove. Witness BEETLEJUICE and THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW. Burton would have made this live action film populated by not only humans but by cyclops, minotaurs, satyrs and even grim reapers, even stranger. Outside of that, this film was not terribly bad at all, a little strange for some people but still effective. Stu's coma takes him to Dark Town, the world within his mind; his prison. Stu Miley is an artist with a dark complex mind. His art is moody, dark and well just plain disturbing. No he isn't an H.R. Giger clone, his art isn't that good, but it does resemble the art of Flemish painter Hieronymous Bosch. Dark Town does resemble some of his paintings. To see some of his art go to these sites... Paintings Paintings His girlfriend and soon to be fiancee, Julie McElroy (Bridget Fonda has him try to change by drawing with his left hand instead of his right. In doing so he discovered that his art turned cartoonish and lighter but with an edge to it. Out of all this came a cartoon series and cartoon show called Monkeybone. Monkeybone is a petulant rascally monkey with a penchant for wise cracks and racy antics, he just loves to dive into female cleavage. His business manager and friend Herb (David Foley) pushes him constantly with merchandising ideas. This leads to an car accident that puts Stu into a life threatening coma. Stu descends into the quagmire of his mind, Dark Town. Here he is assaulted by weird and terrifying characters who on a whole aren't so bad. He also comes face to face with his creation, Monkeybone. Stu has to escape and a wake up from the coma before he sinks deeper and never wake again. His sister, Kimmy (Megan Mullally) has decided to pull the plug as well. You will recognize Megan Mullally from WILL AND GRACE on television. Too complicate things Monkeybone uses Stu's exit pass from the coma to escape into the real world. Once there he causes all sorts of havoc as Stu. That's right he wakes up in Stu's body. Stu has to get back to the real world to save his girlfriend and his life. Death played by Whoopi Goldberg helps him by allowing him temporary exit in the body of a dead man played by Chris Kattan. Once this happens the director really seems to lose control of this film. The interesting premise from the beginning goes way off field. The antics become manial and no longer witty. It is a shame because MONKEYBONE had much more potiential. While you will have fun watching the film you will realize that something is askew and not quite all there. One of the problems is that the film is too short at 87 minutes. Promising characters were not given enough time to develop and sequences were cut too short to do them justice. Still you should have fun watching the crazy gags. |
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