Featured Audience Ratings

• Phil H

  
  Based on the comic 'Dark Town' but slightly twisted somewhat resulting in this film from Selick  which by no means is a bad thing as the film is great fun. When I first saw this it was a straight to 'video' release but I was enticed by the unusual title and… More
  Based on the comic 'Dark Town' but slightly twisted somewhat resulting in this film from Selick  which by no means is a bad thing as the film is great fun. When I first saw this it was a straight to 'video' release but I was enticed by the unusual title and colourful film cover, but I must admit after seeing it I didn't really like it that much. The film did bomb heavily in the US and this is why the UK only saw it at the videoshop which is a shame. I think the odd casting of Brendan Fraser (never been a big name really) and Bridget Fonda didn't help as the you don't tend to think of these two for a surreal 'Burton-esq' life after death flick as this. I also think Fraser gave the film a childish outlook due to his previous films plus he's not a great actor anyway so this may have detracted from the film. Upon watching again I must say I've warmed up to this fantasy now bigtime, it does show tremendous imagination and originality throughout which is unique in itself, add to that some marvellous stop motion animation, cartoon animation and a whole host loony toon rubber masks and suits equalling many strange and bizarre creatures. Selick being the master behind 'Nightmare Before Christmas' shows us again here how that wasn't a fluke, much like 'Beetlejuice' the characters are all suppose to be dead or with this film imaginatively created also. Most of the film is set in a limbo land and this allows Selick to run riot with the creations and utilize his skills in stop motion perfectly, all of which is really nicely done. You really could be forgiven for thinking this was a Burton/Selick collaboration as the film is very dark and off the wall highlighting their fascination of the afterlife being basically a pain in the ass. The whole film is highly colourful, vivid and shows great artistic merit with some nice alternative takes on the look for limbo, death, passing over etc...its not morbid but nicely ghoulish. Must applaud Chris Kattan for a brilliant little role as a dead body that Fraser's character inhabits towards the end :) really nicely played and quite believeable as a corpse with a broken neck haha kudos. Worst choice is easily casting Whoopi Goldberg as 'Death', who's decision was that!!?.

• KJ P

  
  This was an enjoyable ride. It was just funny how the main act was holding his head on with anything he could find. I laughed every time he came up with something new and original to hold it up.

• Dead A

  
  I watched this because of Brendan Fraser. But this was stupid.

• Wahida K

  
  Bone 2 B Bad

• Luke B

  
  Monkeybone gets a lot of undeserved flack. It's by no means a great film but there's so much to like about it. Selick's imagination runs wild in the fantasy segments. He makes great use of stop-motion animation and some wonderful make-up and costumes. Rose McGowan is a… More
  Monkeybone gets a lot of undeserved flack. It's by no means a great film but there's so much to like about it. Selick's imagination runs wild in the fantasy segments. He makes great use of stop-motion animation and some wonderful make-up and costumes. Rose McGowan is a particular treat. It does seem like the budget may have forced more of it to be set in the real world than one would have liked, and there's definitely a sense that a LOT has been cut. It always seems as though the film is darker than it's allowed to be, making it the repressed character that Fraser himself portrays. The sister disappears, McGowan is underused and certain plot points go unexplained. There's a few brilliant twists and turns, but it's one of those films without a definite tone or audience, which can leave it flailing in the wind.

• Dean M

  
  This is what happens when a film suffers from being too unrestrained. What should have been a clever dark fantasy about a comic-book artist who enters his own world is instead a textbook case of style over substance. Director Henry Selick - so wonderful with puppet animation -… More
  This is what happens when a film suffers from being too unrestrained. What should have been a clever dark fantasy about a comic-book artist who enters his own world is instead a textbook case of style over substance. Director Henry Selick - so wonderful with puppet animation - hasn't the faintest idea how to manipulate live human beings, which leaves Brendan Fraser and Bridget Fonda looking woefully bad.

• Randy T

  
  Should be on any comprehensive list of the worst films ever made.

• Curtis L

  
  The part in 'downtown' is really cool, but as a whole i hate brendan fraser so much it's hard to watch.

• Lafe F

  
  I thought "Monkeybone" would be as brilliant as "Beetlejuice" and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" but was wrong. It's an unfunny gross movie with lots of flat black humour. Visually, the world of the afterlife looks great with its cartoonish neon… More
  I thought "Monkeybone" would be as brilliant as "Beetlejuice" and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" but was wrong. It's an unfunny gross movie with lots of flat black humour. Visually, the world of the afterlife looks great with its cartoonish neon amusement park glow, but nothing fun happens within. The "Monkeybone" character looks really cute, but it's an annoying dirty-minded little scoundrel that needs to be locked in a cage.

• John B

  
  For the money that they put into this thing...oh what could have been. Instead we get a pretty rubbishy story. Expect to get nothing out of this film.

• Yinalí R

  
  Very weird movie...Yeah...

• C.R. L

  
  When Henry Selick created a Nightmare before Christmas it was the start of a new era in stop motion animation. While Selick has always stayed in the world of stop motion animation he has given us a great and wonderful time with that, James and the giant peach was phenomenal and… More
  When Henry Selick created a Nightmare before Christmas it was the start of a new era in stop motion animation. While Selick has always stayed in the world of stop motion animation he has given us a great and wonderful time with that, James and the giant peach was phenomenal and now in 2001 he created a film that blends perfectly live action with the stop motion animation of his design. And this film so happens to be called, Monkeybone. Monkeybone is smart, charming, unrelentingly funny and visually breathtaking it's a fantasy adventure with such high class and such great comedic timing that it just leaps out at you and sucks you deep, deep into the world of Henry Selick and his wild, dark and zany creatures. What I loved about this film is how Fraser's character started out meek and dull and slowly but surly turned into the hero and real man you know he is on the inside. It's a great face the music type of story and a great fantasy adventure that is just too good and just too eye catching to resist. Brendan Fraser gives one of his best comedic performances here as comic strip scribe and creator of Monkeybone Stu Miley. Fraser's performance is key to the film and it sometimes calls for him to go above and beyond the call of duty for his role. But never the less Fraser pulls it off nicely and helps make this comedic adventure worthy watching. Bridget Fonda is alright as the doting and caring girlfriend Julie, while not as strong as Fraser and not as serious as she could have been Fonda does alright with her part and is not a thorn in this films side. John Turturro is fantastically funny and witty as the popular but treacherous comic strip character, Monkeybone. Turturro breaks out all his comedic skills and brings some seriously huge laughs and style to this film as the voice of the mischievous little monkey. But all in all the cast holds up great and brings some serious charm laughs to an otherwise unique and original picture. Monkeybone is cool as it is slick and while not as popular as it should be or as praised but Henry Selick's Monkeybone is an original and visually striking motion picture that I know if your forgiving and open up to this world Monkeybone will not disappoint. All in all Monkeybone is one wild and zany trip you really want to take.

• Jay R

  
  it was good, kinda corny... but good right up until brendan fraser started singing right near the end... that killed it for me... that and the cliche ending...

Read all 13 featured audience ratings