Monkeybone

Well, um....my husband and I liked it. We went to see it opening night (without having read any reviews at all) because it's directed Henry Selik, who directed The Nightmare Before Christmas. Monkeybone is a weird, dark, strange, goofy, silly black comedy, all things that can drive people nuts, so I can certainly understand why many people didn't like it, but bizarre humor appeals to us. Anyone who hates Brendan Fraiser will tear their hair out, but I can take him on a film-by-film basis and liked him in this one. It has absolutely stunning visuals in the "Downtown" section of the film, my favorite part of the movie.
Its ranking at rottentomatoes.com is pretty horrific, and if I'd gone there first I'm sure I never would have gone to see it, so I'm glad I didn't check what other people thought of it. The only good review I've ever read is at Salon. A couple of reviewers there liked it as much as we did, and had some interesting things to say about it.
I think we will be the only two people on HTF who liked this film, so I wanted to tell you that you weren't alone.

 

I recently rented this and felt that is was defiantely underappreciated. I enjoyed the film myself and thought it was an inventive and interesting film.

 

No you are not alone, me too I liked it!

I always liked those Half Cartoon Half Live action movies such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Cool World. For that reason alone, I went to see it and I liked it. Enough to buy the DVD at least and watched it a few times...

One of my favorite moment is: When Kitty (Rose McGowen's character) goes to fight with the rat and when she screams, you hear a cat meow! It's just so cool!


Most of the negative reviews I read were about people who went in with kids thinking it's a kids movie and walked out during the first few minutes That kid in school having a boner at the sight of his teacher was very South Park-Like and definitely not suitable for children

And it's one of the very few movies where you can actually cry and laugh at the same time.

It may not be in my top 3 of 2001 (Amelie, Ghost World and Memento) but definitely in my top 10 along with Josie And The Pussycats, Bridget Jones's Diary and Antitrust among others.

 

Okay Crawdaddy, surely there's a story behind your sig. You may have told it before but surely this is a good time to fill in those of us who missed the first time around. Please?

 

Although I really didn't dig Monkeybone, I sincerely love how home video allows people to discover the 'littler' flicks for themselves. Once the "stink" of a box-office (and/or critical) dud washes off, lots of people chance upon these movies and really like them.
Monkeybone I didn't like, but Osmosis Jones? Great stuff!

 

Scott, although we disagree on Monkeybone (and Angel Eyes, for that matter), I find our tastes are pretty similar, so I'll give Osmosis Jones a try based on your recommendation. Belated kudos on your 500th, btw!
I too would like to know what Crawdaddy's sig is about. (And is "Crawdaddy" taken from the great old magazine I used to subscribe to?)

 

Mark, I wasn't there, so I can't speak with authority, but look through the picures of the 2001 HTF Meet/Studio Day.
One of the pictures shows Crawdaddy somehow winning a Monkeybone DVD. The look on his face as he holds his prize is pricelss and should tell the whole story (I'm guessing).
As for the film: haven't seen it. Don't plan to, either.
Evan

 

I think the backlash to this movie came from the "what might have been" camp.

It is well known that Fox tampered with this film in pre-production and destroyed "what might have been" (there I go) a sharply dark, funny, and elaborate feast for the imagination if they had left well enough alone. Fox execs. also did this to Fincher's Alien3 and look how that turned out.

What did wind up on film was a travesty compared to the original treatment and storyboard ideas.

Dan