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Monkey Bone
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The Film :
The saddest part of reviewing most films
isn't so much reviewing a film that's bad, as much as reviewing a film
that could've been good, yet wasn't. Such is the case with Monkey
Bone; a film with an amusing premise, and some very alluring
visual effects, yet too many flaws to forgive. If anything, it's worthwhile only
upon leaving the theater, and
talking with your friends about how you could've (very easily) improved the picture into something so much better. The
story involves Stu Miley (Brendan Fraser), who has just made a big deal
with Comedy Central to produce his cartoon creation, Monkey Bone, into a
series (well, at least they agreed to "six episodes"!). With
everything going his way, he decides to finally propose to his longtime
girlfriend (played adorably by Bridget Fonda). On the way home from a
media party, however, he gets in a car accident, leaving him in a coma.
This should teach him to put so many commercial products for Monkey Bone
in the back seat; he was killed by an inflatable monkey balloon! While
this may sound more than a bit depressing, it's actually the start of the
comedy itself; Stu's subconscious self is thrust into the world of
Nightmares Come to Life, as inspired by the director of Tim Burton's The
Nightmare Before Christmas. From cat-woman waitresses named
"Kitty" to a cyclops that walks on his hands, this is undeniably the most "eye
candy"-filled part of the film. When arriving to this new realm, the
land opens up not unlike a hand (or perhaps a claw). Not
unlike the recent multimedia game, American
McGee's Alice, there's some very well chosen psychological
imagery here; some of which is so well chosen it may go completely over
some people's heads. There's no scene in nightmare land that doesn't
seem truly inspired...except, perhaps, for the irrepressibly annoying
title character, Monkey Bone (no offense intended to voice actor, John
Turturro). From his truly grating Marilyn Monroe
impersonation, to his constant whiny banter against Stu (talk about
ungrateful; Stu made him what he is!), every scene makes you wonder
why on Earth Comedy Central would be interested in as little as six
episodes of this obnoxious chimp. True, he's the enemy in this picture,
though does he have to make you wince every time you see him? He's
the enemy of this picture in more ways than one, because every following
subplot involving Monkey Bone is totally sub par. They also take you away
from the film's crowning achievement, Nightmare Land. Monkey, see, wants to enter
the real world, by stealing Stu's body to get there. Once there, he
designs a scheme to increase the power of Nightmare Land by putting
"Nightmare Juice" (I suppose, hallucinogens) as poisonous gas in
hundreds of flatulent monkey toys. Don't try to understand it; just
realize the bottom line, that this means the latter half of the movie is
thrust away from Nightmare Land and into the boring "real
world," where poor Brendan Fraser has to act like a human monkey. I
suppose some of the best work on this film, aside from the inspired
Nightmarish visuals, is the success in capturing so many great cameos. While admittedly,
the cameo by Whoopi Goldberg seems played totally on auto-pilot, another
cameo, by Stephen King, is a real gem. Best of all (to me),
Kitty, the Cat Lady waitress, is played adorably by Rose McGowan.
Personally, this is the type of perfectly played role that, in the hands
of a better director, would lead to more scenes of this intriguing
cat-character. She's enjoyable in every
scene she's in, and that's not half the number of scenes you would want
her in by the film's end. As I
said, the best part of this film is devising all the ways you, yourself,
could have made a better film with the material provided. Here's a few
thoughts I came up with. One, a cameo of Jack Skellington (from Nightmare
Before Christmas, get it?) would have been amusing, since this is,
after all, "Nightmare Land." Monkey Bone should've made more monkey jokes; the jokes they gave him might not have been cliché,
though they weren't funny, either. Lastly, a finale plot twist, where Bridget Fonda's
body was taken over by Kitty, would have been better than the
rubber-stamp, so-so ending they chose instead. As I said; this is one film whose biggest flaw is
the barrage of ways that it could have been so much better. The
DVD : What is the difference
between an "extended scene" and a "deleted scene"...?
That's the question when viewing the extended scenes offering on this
disc. What it boils down to is, the deleted scenes are so short and brief,
they can only make sense when seen in addition to scenes already in the
film. Sure, there are at least two scenes that qualify as actual deleted
scenes, though not many. The best
part of the extended scenes is, more than half of them extend the scenes
of nightmare land; a big plus, when one of the main flaws with the film
was not enough of such imaginative visuals. My favorite would have
to be the one called "Art vs. Doodle," which showcases
"Medusa" singing in a nightclub to dancing monsters. In
addition, there are two alternate introductions to the entrance of Monkey
Bone into Stu's life, plus longer scenes at the Nightmare party, the land
of death, and Stu's arrival to downtown itself. Scenes
from the "real world" part of the story, are extended as well.
"Monkey Bone Airbags" allows viewers who saw the film trailers
to feel less confused; the original accident that put Stu in a coma is
shown, when a telephone pole lands on his head. Monkey Bone, as Stu, is
also shown in a deleted scene where he gets revenge on Kimmi, the relative
that was so ready to pull the plug on Stu when he was in a coma. Other
differently cut scenes include the meeting with toy manufacturers and the
opening cartoon, which is now longer. Last of all, there's an alternate
ending, when Death is shown exacting revenge on Hypno, who caused this
mess in the first place. The best
enhancement would probably be the "Monkey Bone Secrets
Revealed." Four Fx shots are shown, totally unretouched, so viewers
can see how bluescreen was used (and where) to integrate the puppetry with
the live action. This behind the scenes feature is in addition to one of
the better photo galleries I ever saw, with conceptual art for every major
character or device used in the whole film. I
think the best question that can be asked in the end, though, is how such
an intriguing vision could be so marred. That is slightly answered via the
commentary by director Henry Selick. Apparently, behind the scenes, the
director of Nightmare Before Christmas had a major clashing
of opinions with the newly assigned "key producer" to the
project, Chris Columbus. This is no surprise, when Columbus was the
producer of less macabre visions, and more family-oriented fare, like Mrs.
Doubtfire. It turns out that Columbus (or so Selick claims) was
behind the idea to have live action throughout the film. In other words,
Colombus is to blame for taking the action away from Nightmare Land and
into the real world...a big mistake. What a
shame. It just goes to show how two major film visionaries cannot be
simply thrown together, in a project that should not be done two different
ways at once. That in itself must've been Monkey Bone's biggest, most
disappointing flaw.
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