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View Date: July 14th, 2001 (video) Cast:
Directed by: Henry Selick Written
by: Official Site: Monkeybone Related Viewings: Also see my reviews at:
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Monkeybone Monkeybone presents an interesting cinematic predicament. Can a movie exist which is equal parts corny fun, and creative exploration of dreams, reality and the subconscious? Unfortunately no, because director Henry Selick falls prey to use more of the former, in his crude actions and incarnations, rather than delving into the dark alternative world that exists parallel to reality. The result is a sometimes surreal, mostly insipid experience that could have been so much more if the director had just taken his mind out of the gutter long enough to realize what he had on his hands. First of all, this is not a kids movie, for those who see animation and automatically think that its okay to bring the little ones. This is an animated movie that features some adult themes and inappropriate humor. Even without the humor attempts, the themes explored would go above and beyond what children should be exposed at an early age. Selick is not unaccustomed to transcribing the more surreal side of reality, helming the disturbing Nightmare Before Christmas and the odd James and The Giant Peach. This time around, his inspiration is Kaja Blackley’s graphic comic novel Dark Town, and I can only imagine that the majority of that tale is applied to an underworld location called Downtown, where coma victims and those in limbo, congregate to await their fate. The main character, Stu Miley, an aspiring cartoonist on the verge of his greatest success with Monkeybone, a silver-tongued simian, ends up Downtown in one of the movies few ironic twists. From here, he attempts to escape but is foiled by Monkeybone, who has come to life in the alternate existence. The monkey then returns to reality in Stu’s body and this is where the movie loses it surreal touches along with any momentum and creativity that it had built up. The premise behind the monkeys return is that the inhabitants of Downtown want to be real and exist in the world. They see their only escape through the bodies of the owners who created them in their imagination. Since their entertainment is watching our nightmares, and the dreams are getting boring so they want someone to incite something more entertaining to watch. This just happens to be the forte and life work of Mileys girlfriend, who has developed a potion to incite nightmares. So, in the pursuit of better entertainment, the underworld denizens seek an avenue at whatever cost. Sound vaguely familiar (Hollywood willing to sell their creative souls for whatever entertains, explains the current existence of reality based television I believe). I really liked most of the scenes in Downtown including Hypnos (a dwarfed Esposito) who is their leader and another incarnation of death (Goldberg) who is the keeper of the keys back to real life. The look definitely had a haunting touch and the interaction between animation and reality makes Roger Rabbit and Cool World look darn near juvenile. Unfortunately, the film wasn’t content to be a comedy with an edge, instead lowering itself into situations straight out an SNL alumnus project. This robs the movie of any sharp or surreal insight. The movies exploration of the subconscious mind and how we can become victims of our mental incarnations, showed such great promise indeed. Also scenes explaining the works of Stephen King, and the actions of Lizzie Borden and Jack the Ripper, are subsequently offset with a hamming Fraser swinging like Tarzan and hopping around furniture. Ah what could have been. I do admire Fraser for branching out to do more unconventional projects (since he’s tailor made to be a romantic lead.) I think that he’s better suited to flex his dramatic muscles (figuratively and literally) as he did in Gods and Monsters. He shows versatility, as he did in Bedazzled, to play multiple characters with varying personalities and traits. There has to be a director though who can capitalize on this ability without exploiting him and putting him in cinematic situations that he may later regret. For the most part though, Fraser, Fonda, and a surprisingly tolerable Kattan, do their best, but with the material, it seems a near monumental up hill struggle. Only Goldberg, a bit part with some spunk, but nowhere near what she's capable of, and Foley, even more goofy than usual, are wasted along the movies potential. Ultimately, Monkeybone is a movie that betrays its vision and loses its focus in its attempt to create appeal for the masses. These days, it seems that most filmmakers are afraid to take a chance with something that may not be accepted by the masses. Darren Arronofsky, David Fincher, Todd Solondz and Atom Egoyan (the future of Hollywood, as I call them) have shown that quality entertainment can be made without kowtowing to the whims and libidos of the movie going public. Why did a story with its basis in the essence and exploration of nightmares and mental demons, have to result and manifest into an overly hormonal simian. Don’t monkey with an idea, go with the darkness, go with the ideas and stay true to your vision, however disturbed. Whomever is ultimately responsible (since Selicks is rumored to have not been pleased with final product) needs to spend sometime Downtown with the nightmares of this film to get things sorted out. ($$ out of $$$$$)Agree? Disagree, Questions? Comments? |
