Stars: Bridget Fonda, Brendan Fraser, Whoopi Goldberg, Chris Kattan, David Foley, Giancarlo Esposito, Megan Mullally, Rose McGowan, Bob Odenkirk, Christopher Franciosa, Mary Pierce

Director: Henry Selick

Summary: Stu Miley awakes from a car crash with an alter ego called Monkeybone, who is trying to take over Stu's life. Can Stu stop Monkeybone before it is too late?...

MONKEY BONE, 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 humour.) 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.

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Henry Selick's Monkeyboneis another of the director's brave experiments in combining various forms of animation following his successes with The Nightmare Before Christmasand 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 Monkeyboneat 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 Monkeybonestands 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

Aspect Ratio:	1.85 Wide Screen, 16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Audio Commentary By Director Henry Selick, 11 Extended Scenes, 7 Monkeybone Secrets Revealed Scenes, Easter Egg, Theatrical Trailer, 3 TV Spots, DVD Rom Content, Image Gallery
Subtitles:	Czech, Danish, English, Finnish, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish
Year:	2001
Release Date:	July 28, 2003
Runtime:	88 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	19944 D V D
Keywords:	Comedy, General, Wide, Screen, Monkey, Bone, Monkeybone
Genre:	Comedy