Father Geek here... Well, here's a report from another test screening of MONKEYBONE. You know I think people are thinking that because this is animated and has a monkey that they are in for some sort of laugh a minute joke fest and as a result they're coming out disappointed. I've read the script and seen about a 2 inch thick book of storyboards, and I suspect these people we have been hearing from may have the wrong take on the film. It's supposed to be dark, twisted, and crazy. (not necessarily funny crazy, but crazy crazy, even a little disturbing) I'm thinking more like a part stop-motion animated, part live action nightmare world with a feel right out of SHOCK CORRIDOR or the SNAKE PIT, not COOl WORLD and BEETLEJUICE. Remember this is the crew that gave us NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, I don't remember that necessarily being a laugh riot. It didn't make alot of money right out of the gate either, but its still around years later, even more popular, and the toys (for adults by the way) are a huge cottage industry with a life of their own. Just because a film is esoteric, doesn't mean its bad.
Saw a fresh test screening tonight of MONKEYBONE, a film that you're more than familiar with! I guess this is about the third or fourth time they've screened this thing, so tonight was probably the new-improved audience-friendly version. It was a workprint, with temp music culled from Wild Things and Beetlejuice, amongst others, and without credits the movie ran at a meagre 85 minutes..I'm assuming that either there just wasn't much to begin with here, or there have been quite a few cuts...more on this below.
I've seen this movie reviewed before on the site so I won't get into a detailed plot summary, just the basics: Brendan Fraser plays Stu, a cartoonist responsible for a South Park-esque animated show called Monkeybone, about a manic monkey on crack who is more irritating than funny. The TV station suits want to make millions off it by releasing toys and merchandise like Monkeybone dolls, but Brendan doesn't want any of that. Anyhoo he gets into an accident strangely caused by one of these toys and falls into a coma.
His soul enters a weird underworld whose inhabitants thrive on human nightmares; Monkeybone actually physically exists in this world. Of course Brendan wants out of here, and to do this must steal an exit pass from Death (Whoopi Goldberg, no less). Almost as soon as he entered this world, I could tell something was wrong with the movie. Either the script was just weak at this point or there had been some major, major edits. For instance, Rose McGowan shows up as a cat waitress, and Brendan is automatically good friends with her; he talks about how he's been trying to get an appointment with the god of sleep for some time, yet it was only a minute ago that we saw him show up at this place...none of this stuff made much sense.
Anyway Brendan gets the exit pass with the help of Monkeybone, but Monkeybone whacks him on the head, steals the pass for himself, and exits the underworld, into Brendan's body. Which results in Brendan playing Jim Carrey for the next hour. Monkeybone has an evil plan to spread, uhh, "nightmare juice" through a bunch of farting Monkeybone dolls. So the real Brendan has to use a dead body (played by Chris Kattan) to stop him.
So its "wacky", its "zany", but sadly not really funny. Monkeybone himself (voiced by John Turturro, which I didn't even realize until I read the card at the end) is basically just Robin Williams as Aladdin's genie, but only with the energy, and none of the actual humor. I'm not saying Monkeybone is this year's Jar Jar Binks or anything, but he's just a generic wacky cartoon character, a lot less interesting than the filmmakers probably think he is.
That was my main problem with the movie...I could see WHY things were funny, I just wasn't actually laughing. Such as, Chris Kattan is undeniably talented as a physical comedian, and I could see how his stuff would be absolutely hilarious on paper. There's a scene where his guts are falling out, and he starts throwing them at Brendan...now that does sound kind of funny, but seeing it on the screen, it just didn't amount to much. There's a scene where Kattan has a serious moment with Bridget Fonda, as he tries to convince her he's the real Brendan, and tells her he loves her, people were just laughing out loud at this...don't be surprised if that scene doesn't make it to the final cut!
Other performances are decent..Whoopi Goldberg is surprisingly effective as a sardonic Death, and Brendan alternates between playing a geek and going way OTT pretty well, but again, just not that funny. Bridget Fonda plays it straight as Brendan's girlfriend, but she has very little to do other than cry and be shocked at Monkeybone's antics. Rose McGowan probably has most of her stuff left on the cutting room floor, sadly. Stephen King briefly shows up as himself, and yes...Harry, you sir have a fine cameo indeed.
So what can I say that's positive...well the sets are imaginative (although I'm sure the designers have seen Beetlejuice once or twice) and there's certainly a lot of energy in the film, but what we're looking at here is...yikes...another Cool World. Harry, I remember you wrote that this is a movie not intended for the mainstream? I'd definitely agree with you on that one. There will be people that love this movie, I'm sure, but its definitely not for everyone. After it was over, I overheard some snotty punk outside the theater referring to it as "a crackhead movie". Not eloquent, but I'd agree with that too...
Max California
