"It certainly would have done better if they advertised it a little... I would still like to do a Director's Cut because there's a lot of cool stuff that was removed... my main lesson learned is, I don't really do well in the live-action universe... I love my world of stop-motion... I went down a slippery slope to make Monkeybone, but the film that came out it's not my vision of what the film could've been, and I just don't thrive in that."
-Henry Selleck
Going into this movie, I had some assumptions that were simply untrue.
Henry Selleck is a pretty legendary director, and considering this movie. Flopped, I assumed this was some bizarre personal project that didn't really click with its audience ALA Henson's THE DARK CRYSTAL. That is not the case. The comic book Dark Town, on which Monkeybone is based, was written by Kaja Blackley, illustrated by Vanessa Chong. Selick fell in love with the book and vigorously pursued the rights. In a letter to Kaja, he wrote: "I've never felt any project was closer to my sensibilities than this one." The initial intention was to stay true to the source material, which can be seen in early designs from Selick's company, Twitching Image. However, as the project developed, it eventually evolved into Monkeybone.
Stu Miley is a cartoonist who created a comic strip called Monkeybone which features the rascal monkey of the same name. Stu is in love with a sleep institute worker named Dr. Julie McElroy. When it comes to the night where he was going to propose to her, a freak accident happens and Stu falls into a coma. His spirit ends up in Downtown: a purgatory limbo-like existence between life and death. Downtown is a carnival landscape populated by other people, mythical creatures, and other figments and this is where nightmares are entertainment. This is where Monkeybone comes to life and stirs up trouble for Stu. Also, Stu befriends a cat-girl named Kitty. When Stu learns that his sister Kimmy is about to pull the plug on him, he asks Hypnos: The God of Sleep what to do. Hypnos tells Stu that to get back to the living, he has to steal an Exit Pass from Death who lives in the Land of Death. However, Monkeybone and Hypnos have their own agenda with Stu's body when it comes to making nightmares.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film made it to 20% based on 114 reviews, average rating of 3.9/10. My review for this movie, wouldn't be far off from Rotten Tomatoes. this movie feels like a battle between a more traditional character-based fantasy adventure, to the world's longest three Stooges bit. Total sincerity and some great character work with Brendan Fraser in one scene, followed by fingering a monkey's ass farting purple goop into your face. It's an overly complicated script, in a universe with rules that are a little hard to understand.
The only consistent thing about this movie (Besides, my deep carnal urge to kill monkey bone) is its crazy ass Tim Burton art style. Most of the film's art bears a strong resemblance to that of Mark Ryden—for example, the bust of Abraham Lincoln as "The Great Emancipator". Stu's pre-therapy painting is very similar to Ryden's The Birth, and according to the credits, was painted by him for the film. If you know much about classic art and literature, there are countless references to point out.
But besides that occasional secondhand excitement, this movie didn't do much for me.
It is a bummer to see Brendan Fraser in so many movies (BLAST FORM THE BAST, ENCINO MAN) That just doesn't really hold up much nowadays
5/10
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