Rating: 
Summary: Monkey Bone Is Flat Out Fun
Review: Monkey Bone stars Brendan Fraser as a cartoonist who gets in a car wreck and ends up in a coma.While in the coma he gets a round trip to downtown a place where creatures dwell and where death herself lives. Brendan meets monkey bone the evil monkey who takes fraser's exit pass to get to reality which also results in monkey bone taking over his life and body. Monkey Bone is down right fun. Great effects and terrific sets make this worthwhile but the film belongs to Chris Kattan's performance as the dead gymnast who's controlled by the real Fraser who goes after monkey bone at the end. Be warned the sex jokes are explicit,sometimes offensive,and cruel.
Rating:
Summary: Monkey Bone Is Flat Out Fun
Review: Monkey Bone is flat out fun from start to finish. Brendan Fraser stars as a cartoonist who gets in a car wreck and ends up in a coma. While he's in the coma he gets stuck in downtown a place where he gets to meet all his characters from his comic strips. Including monkey bone a very know it all monkey who later betrays fraser by stealing his exit pass and controlling his body and ruining his life. Can stu the character brendan plays get the monkey before he's stuck in downtown forever. Spectacular effects and sets make this worthwhile to watch what's even better is Chris Kattan who plays a dead gymnast is hilarious and the last 30 minutes makes this film great.Parents be warned the sex jokes are very offensive and descriptive this isn't a kid film.
Rating: 
Summary: A very wild ride - Brandon Frasier gives a great performance
Review: Frasier plays a man who has just found commercial success as a cartoon animator, and becomes involved in a freak car accident the night he was planning to propose to his girlfriend (Played by the beatiful Bridget Fonda).Put into a coma, Frasier winds up in a weird fantasy land, populated by talking pigs, bulls, cats, and of course, a monkey. The scenery is terrific, just as good as The Grinch, maybe better. While Frasier plans his escape, Monkeybone, his cartoon creation brought to life in his coma, escapes into the realworld and steals his body. What follows is a very funny and exciting ride filled with eye-popping visuals accompanied by talented comedians(Whoopi Goldberg and Chris Kattan). Kattan's scenes are worth the price of admission alone! However, I do not recommend this movie for small children, even though it appears to be child-friendly. There is a lot of questionable material in this film that is not for young children. I saw many children at the screening I went to, and some seemed disturbed by what they saw. But beyond that, this is a very fun, energetic film that is a great relief from all the dramas out now. I definitely recommend you go see it.
Rating:
Summary: Brendan Fraser Takes Risks Again
Review: It is amazing to me that every time Brendan Fraser does an edgy, risky movie, like this one, his audience bottoms out. Yet when he does work that I find barely watchable, like the two "Mummy" movies, he is a huge hit. This film drew few viewers, just like his "Still Breathing," "Gods and Monsters," and "Twilight of the Golds." Here Fraser plays cartoonist Stu who via a coma is transported to Down Town. Other people in comas and people who are created by others' imaginations live in Down Town. They all crave nightmares and dreams. It is a hyper surreal place. Stu's creation, Monkeybone, lives there too and Monkeybone plots to take Stu's place in the real world. Monkeybone does emerge in the real world in Stu's body and Fraser does a superb job playing a monkey in the body of a man. In fact, his character is the most fun when Monkeybone takes over. I've never seen before "Saturday Night Live's" Chris Kattan. He plays a gymnast with a broken neck whose body Stu inhabits while trying to get his own body back from Monkeybone. He turns in an amazing performance as well and I'd like to see him in more. I do not know the technicalities of animation film making. However, the combination of animation characters with real world actors, like Fraser, is done superbly and seamlessly here. In fact, it might ruin the film for me to know how it is done so I'm just as glad that I don't know.
Rating:
Summary: Used to hate it and now I love it.
Review: I saw Monkeybone when it was in theaters without knowing what it was even about. My impression at the time was that it was a wierd and stupid movie with no point. I recently found it for $5 so I decided to give it a try, and I am glad I did. Everyone I know hates this movies or has not seen it, but I now think this is a wonderful movie. Stu Miley (Brendan Frasier) has just launched his new animated character Monkeybone, created from Stu's repressed sexual anxieties(as another reviewer put it). Monkeybone is a hot character that brings a huge demand for cartoons, toys, and just about any other kind of merchandising you can think of. After a party for the launch of his new character, Stu and his girlfriend are in a car wreck leaving Stu in a coma. This happens just when Stu is going to propose to his girlfriend. As others see him in a coma, Stu ends up in Downtown, the place where other people in a coma reside, along with their nightmares. I really enjoyed the effects that take place in Downtown. But once there, Stu comes face to face with his creation, and together must find a way out of Downtown before Stu's sister "pulls the plug" on him in the outside world. Monkeybone turns on Stu and steals his pass into the real world, and so with a deal from Death (Whoopi Goldberg) Stu must get back to his life and stop Monkeybone from ruining his life. Thats all I want to say about the plot, and it may sound dumb or a little complicated, but to me is a good and very entertaining movie. Bottom line is that this is a nice blend of live-action and animation and is nicely directed by Henry Selick. And as usual Frasier gives a nice performance in this starring role. At the heart of this movie is also a good love story. A lot of you may not like this movie, but at least watch it once and give it a chance. You might be surprised.
Rating:
Summary: A mess of a film, yes...But also brilliant...
Review: "Monkeybone" is the type of experimental, twisted movie that is destined to become a cult classic. Mixing shades of Tim Burton's "Beetlejuice" with an enormous variety of influences such as "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," "All of Me," "Alice in Wonderland," and even "Regarding Henry," this movie is a stop-motion cartoon, a live-action love story, a dark comedy, a fantasy, a Freudian nightmare, and more. It contains an extremely diverse and unusual cast, including Brendan Fraser as a cartoonist in a coma, Bridget Fonda as his fiancee, Whoopi Goldberg as Death (yes, you read that right), Chris Kattan as the decomposing corpse of a gymnast, Megan Mullally as the cartoonist's sister who is very eager to pull the plug, Dave Foley as the cartoonist's manager, and Rose McGowan as a kitty cat (yes, once again, you read that right)! It also contains bizzare, strange, and cool animation by director Henry Selick, who also directed Tim Burton's "Nightmare Before Christmas." Ostensibly, "Monkeybone" is the story about an artist's struggle between artistic integrity and cartoonish commercialism, about the difference between a work of art and a mere doodle, a satire about the consequences of "selling out." It is also a Freudian fairy tale about a man whose sexual id is represented by a cartoon monkey. Monkeybone is literally this man's erection. The story is an examination of what happens when one lets one's id take over his whole life. It is a psychological analysis of what nightmares are made of. It is a surrealistic comedy containing some of the most startling, visually stunning images you are likely to see on film for a long time, including strange representations of many classical, mythological creatures. It is a love story. While this might sound like the premise of an independant film, this is actually a big budget film that was marketed to look like a children's movie. Not a good idea. It's no wonder this movie did so poorly at the box office. Believe it or not, this film is the type that should have been playing at small art houses, not mainstream movie theatres. Even the cover box says it's the crudest movie since "South Park." In short, the studio didn't know how to market its own movie. This movie is an extremely likable one, hilariously funny at times, always seriously bizarre, and obviously the work of a demented genius. It is hard to deny the brilliant artistry involved, and the all-around great acting by the cast. In fact, I respect every actor in this film immensely, especially the big budget ones such as Whoopi Goldberg and Brendan Fraser. This is the type of weird movie they didn't have to do, but chose to do. It is a project they wanted to be involved in, and I respect them for that. Typically, most of the reviewers, mostly in the middle of the country, panned this film. However, many major newspapers and publications, such as "The New York Times," and "Entertainment Weekly" gave it great reviews, despite its messy nature. And this is one of the few movies in recent history in which its mess actually adds to its likability. A more polished version of this film would be not be half as enjoyable, brilliant, crazy, or maddening as this truly original, insane piece of filmmaking. As it is now, the viewer constantly wonders what strange happening will occur next, and, trust me, it is always stranger than you thought it would be. I would not recommend this film to everyone. I would probably recommend it mostly to serious movie buffs or lovers of very original, non-mainstream film, who enjoy Tim Burton/Sam Raimiesque humor in their cinema. If you're in the most for something completely and utterly different in every way, buy this movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Not the boner you might think
Review: Cartoonist Stu Miley's (Brendan Fraser) imagination gets the better of him - literally. Animation and live action blend when Stu finds himself trapped inside his own surreal fictional world, held captive by one of his cartoony creations, a rude primate named Monkeybone (voiced by John Turturro). True-life animals also populate this alternate universe: Stu's girlfriend Julie (Bridget Fonda) has a pet Basset Hound named Buster (played by Fred and Madison), who is insanely jealous of Stu. There's also a cat, and some real monkeys. Some of the bizarre characters include: Rat Guard, Centaur, Jumbo the Elephant God, BBQ Pig, Betty the Bovine, Buffalo Kachina, Streetsquash Rabbit and Streetsquash Raccoon, Lizzie Borden, Edgar Allan Poe, Typhoid Mary, and Attila the Hun... to name just a few. Based on the graphic novel Dark Town by Kaja Blackley.
This crazy-quilt of a flick might take some getting used to, but it really is an original piece of work. The extras on this special edition DVD make it well worth the purchase price.
Staci Layne Wilson
Author of Staci's Guide to Animal Movies
Rating:
Summary: MONKEY BIZNESS
Review: MONKEYBONE is one strange movie! Buoyed by some fiercely unique animation techniques and a rather bizarre story line, the movie is like a Tim Burton exercise. Brendan Fraser continues his string of "doofus" roles as Stu Miley, the creator of MONKEYBONE cartoons who finds himself in a coma and in a strange nightmarish land called Down Town. Fiancee Bridget Fonda (looking lovelier than ever) fiercely protects the comatosed Stu, fighting his self-centered sister (Megan Mullally) who wants to pull his life support after three months. Fraser meanwhile is desperately trying to get back to earth and stop the evil Monkeybone from ruining her life. It's all complicated and features some weird sequences involving Chris Kattan as the new body Fraser is given to achieve his task.
Fraser is effective, but at times a little too animated (pardon the pun). Whoopi Goldberg makes an appearance as Death and John Turturro voices Monkeybone. Crude humor suffices and one can see from deleted scenes they edited a lot in an attempt to avoid the R rating.
Not a classic, but in spite of its faults, entertaining nonetheless.
Rating: 
Summary: Salvor Dail threw up and Andy Warhol filmed it.
Review: This is a really bad movie. It's the kind that don't make sense, and you feel all messed up inside from watching, as you walk out of the theater...sad.
What kind of sadness? Sad, sadness; for the filmmakers, cast and crew, for making this movie. Sad whenever you hear the cry of a small child. This movie is directed at...Well, I'm not really sure who would like Monkey Bone. Maybe One-celled animals.
It had some nice effects, and some mind bending ideas. However, like I said; "Salvor Dail puke". And that's for longer than an hour, folks.
Rating:
Summary: First two thirds are great, but falls apart in final act.
Review: Assuming you've read amazon's plot description, the film continues into the second act when Monkeybone double-crosses Stu and steals the golden ticket, and wakes up in Stu's body. Stu himself is still stuck in the purgatory known as Downtown. Mean while, in our world Monkeybone as Stu grows a gottee, acts like an animal in bed with his girlfriend Julie, and is distrusted by his dog. What's more, he shows a sudden intrest in marketing the Monkeybone franchise. (The real Stu never cared about making a huge profit off of his artistic creation.) Monkeybone meanwhile his visited by the devil (who also resides in Downtown,) in a dream while he's asleep, who tells Monkeybone he wants him to steal some experimental nightmare juice from the hospidal and put it into the Monkeybone dolls that are about to be sold. (They're the kind of dolls that you squeeze and they "fart" out a purple cloud.)
Now, so far, so good. As far as we know, this could in fact be all in Stu's mind. I know this was probably never intended as an intillectual movie, but I still had a fun time thinking about this. But then we come to the third act and the movie falls completly apart. Stu makes a deal with Death to let him go back to our world and stop Monkeybone. I personally would have preferred to see Stu get sent back to his own body and wage mental war with Monkeybone for control over his body, thus still leaving us with the possibility that maybe it's all psycological. Instead, Stu is sent back into the body of a dead guy. This still could have been O.K. (even though it would have still meant the film was definetly supernatural,) if Stu had been sent into the body of a guy who's just died but who nobody knows is dead yet. Like, say, a jogger who's just had a heart attack. Instead, he's sent back into the body of an olympic athlete who's broken his neck and who's in the hospidal having his organs removed. Now, imagine just what kind of an upset it would be to the world if a dead body suddenly sprang to life and ran out of the hospidal. However, the film doesn't seem at all concerned with this, as it's played strictly for laughs. The doctors chase after him, yelling,"We won't hurt you! We just want your organs!" I sat there going,"What happened? They had a really great movie there, for awhile."
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