Monkeybone


Monkeybone is a 2001 American dark fantasy comedy film directed by Henry Selick, written by Sam Hamm, produced by Michael Barnathan and Mark Radcliffe, and executive produced by Chris Columbus, Selick, and Hamm. The film combines live action with stop-motion animation. Loosely based on Kaja Blackley's graphic novel Dark Town, the film stars Brendan Fraser, Bridget Fonda, Chris Kattan, Giancarlo Esposito, Rose McGowan, Whoopi Goldberg and John Turturro as the voice of the titular character. It tells the story of a cartoonist who falls into a coma, where he ends up in the otherworldly Down Town where he runs into his titular creation as he tries to return to the living world while contending with an evil plot to supply Down Town with nightmares.
Theatrically released on February 23, 2001, by 20th Century Fox, the film was a box-office bomb and received generally negative critical reviews for its characters and humor, although there was some praise for the visuals. Selick later admitted his unhappiness with the final product and has since vowed to never make another live-action film again.

Plot

Stuart "Stu" Miley is a disillusioned cartoonist whose comic character, a mischievous monkey named Monkeybone, is getting an animated series and merchandise, at the constant pestering of his agent and friend, Herb. He plans on proposing to his girlfriend, Julie McElroy, a sleep institute worker who helped him deal with his nightmares by changing his drawing hand. One night, Stu falls into a coma following a car crash, and his spirit is taken to Down Town, a surreal, carnival-themed limbo-like landscape populated by mythical beings and figments of its visitors' imaginations, including Monkeybone, who he greatly resents until they discover that people can leave Down Town when they are given Exit Passes.
Stu is then invited to a pajama party hosted by Hypnos, the God of Sleep and ruler of Down Town, who tells Stu that he has to steal an Exit Pass from his sister, Death, in order to wake up from his coma before the plug is pulled due to Stu and his sister Kimmy making a pact as children after their father's death. Stu and Monkeybone journey to Death's domain, disguised as one of her employees, and successfully manage to steal an Exit Pass while narrowly escaping a nightmare which Julie inflicts on Stu in an attempt to wake him by using "Oneirix", a chemical solution she created that causes nightmare inducement.
Back in Down Town, Monkeybone steals the Exit Pass for himself, revealing that the theft was part of a plan orchestrated by Hypnos, and enters Stu's body. Monkeybone adjusts to Stu's life and plans to go ahead with the merchendising. Stu is imprisoned with other disillusioned or criminal figures throughout history. A visiting Hypnos reveals to Stu that he and the denizens of Down Town thrive on nightmares and made a deal with Monkeybone to spread the Oneirix amongst the living in exchange for getting Monkeybone his body all to himself, since he is fed up with being a figment.
Monkeybone is later ordered by Hypnos via a nightmare to stay on course and steals the Oneirix from the sleep institute, leaving a decoy in its place. While Monkeybone puts the chemical in farting Monkeybone toys to be given out to the public at a charity banquet, Julie starts growing wary of "Stu's" new behavior. In Down Town, Stu manages to escape with the help of Miss Kitty, a catgirl waitress whom he befriended and confronts Death to convince her to send him back to the living world to stop Monkeybone. Death complies and gives Stu an hour to do so as she puts him in the body of an organ donor with a cervical fracture.
Stu makes it to the banquet while Monkeybone is about to propose to Julie, while Herb is exposed to the Oneirix in a Monkeybone doll and starts hallucinating, causing him to strip naked and flee in panic, believing his clothes are rebelling. With help from his dog Buster, Stu finally confesses his love and regrets to Julie for never getting a chance to propose to her. Stu then manages to use Monkeybone's origin characteristics to cause him to panic which culminates in them fighting on a giant Monkeybone balloon, which is soon shot down by a police officer, causing them to fall to their deaths.
As they fall back into Down Town, Stu and Monkeybone fight before being caught by a giant robot operated by Death, who places Monkeybone back in Stu's mind, claiming it is where he belongs. She allows Stu to go back to his proper body so he can continue making his cartoon as Death says that she is a fan of it. Back in the living, Stu and Julie reunite and share a kiss while a still-infected Herb emerges from a nearby fountain and tells the audience to remove their clothes. The film then ends with a traditionally animated sequence where the banquet's attendants reveal themselves to be monkeys in disguise.

Cast

  • Brendan Fraser as Stuart "Stu" Miley, a cartoonist and the creator of the Monkeybone franchise.
  • * Fraser also plays Monkeybone when he is in Stu's body.
  • Bridget Fonda as Dr. Julie McElroy, a sleep therapist and Stu's love interest.
  • Chris Kattan as an organ donor that Stu briefly possesses.
  • Giancarlo Esposito as Hypnos, the malicious satyr-like God of Sleep and ruler of Down Town.
  • Rose McGowan as Miss Kitty, a catgirl waitress at Down Town's Coma Bar whom Stu befriends.
  • Whoopi Goldberg as Death, the ruler of the Land of Death and Hypnos' sister.
  • Dave Foley as Herb, Stu's agent and friend.
  • Megan Mullally as Kimmy Miley, Stu's sister.
  • Lisa Zane as Medusa, an inhabitant of Down Town who sings at Hypnos' pajama party. An extended scene shows that the snakes that make up her hair are her back-up singers.
  • Pat Kilbane as a Burger God rep
  • Sandra Thigpen as Alice, Julie's friend and co-worker.
  • Lou Romano as the police officer who shoots down the Monkeybone balloon its namesake likeness and Stu fight on.
  • Harper Roisman as Earl Biegler, an old man in Down Town who receives an exit pass from one of the Reapers.
  • Scott Workman as Arnold the Super Reaper, a partially-armored Reaper who is one of Death's minions and tries to catch Stu and Monkeybone.
  • Mary Stein as Lulu, a woman in Down Town who is claimed at Death's domain. A deleted scene showed that she was taken from Hypnos' pajama party.
  • Christopher Franciosa as a Reaper who takes Lulu
  • Fred Pierce as a Reaper in Death's office
  • Jon Bruno as Stephen King, one of Hypnos' prisoners in Down Town who was previously tricked into infiltrating Death's domain to steal an exit pass as Hypnos allowed Cujo to enter King's body. He is only credited as "Man in the Dungeon".
  • Owen Masterson as Jack the Ripper, one of Hypnos' prisoners in Down Town.
  • Shawnee Free Jones as Lizzie Borden, one of Hypnos' prisoners in Down Town.
  • Jen Sung Outerbridge as Attila the Hun, one of Hypnos' prisoners in Down Town.
  • Ilia Volok as Grigori Rasputin, one of Hypnos' prisoners in Down Town.
  • Claudette Mink as Typhoid Mary, one of Hypnos' prisoners in Down Town.
  • Edgar Allan Poe IV as Edgar Allan Poe, one of Hypnos' prisoners in Down Town.
  • Bob Odenkirk as a head surgeon
  • Leon Laderach as a surgeon in a nightmare
  • Veena Bidasha as a Statue Woman, a statue of a female on a mobile round stand who is an inhabitant of Down Town.
  • Michael Anthony Jackson as the Bug Man, an inhabitant of Down Town with the head of a male human and the body of an insect.
  • Doug Jones as Yeti, an inhabitant of Down Town with a long nose and white and blue fur who works in the box office of its nightmare-showing movie theater called the Morpheum Theater.
  • Arturo Gil as the rat-like guard of Down Town's prison that works for Hypnos.
  • Jody St. Michael as the Centaur, a half-human half-horse inhabitant of Down Town that wears cowboy attire. An original scene upon Stu's arrival has him offering Stu a "pony ride".
  • Frit Fuller and Frat Fuller as the Three-Headed Devil, an inhabitant of Down Town depicted with three heads and three legs. An original scene had him complimenting Stu's work and asking for his autograph in blood upon his arrival in Down Town.
  • Brian Steele as Jumbo, a Ganesha-like being who works as the piano player at Down Town's Coma Bar.
  • Leif Tilden as the Cyclops, an inhabitant of Down Town with a large head with horns and arms and a smaller torso and legs.
  • Tom Fisher as the Community Service Cigarette Sweeper, a humanoid camel inhabitant of Down Town.
  • Joseph S. Griffo as the BBQ Pig, an anthropomorphic pig who is a barbecued pork vendor in Down Town.
  • Kim Timbers-Patteri as the Wasp Woman, an insectoid inhabitant of Down Town that is often seen with Hypnos.
  • Lisa Ebeyer as Betty the Bovine, an anthropomorphic cow who is a prize vendor in Down Town.
  • Wayne Doba as the Scorpion, an inhabitant of Down Town with namesake legs and tails surrounding his face.
  • Mark Vinello as Ass Backwards, a bizarre green fish-like inhabitant of Down Town with a pair of noses, bird-like wings, a red tongue-like structure beneath its jaw, and reversed reptilian legs living in Down Town. An original scene upon Stu's arrival had him asking Stu if he has an "anchovy for a fellow amphibian".
  • Nathan Stein as the Sea Monster, an inhabitant of Down Town that resembles a piscine humanoid emerging from the back of its giant seahorse-like mount with thin legs that neighs like a horse.
  • Ed Holmes as the Buffalo Kachina, a bison-type Kachina that lives in Down Town. An original scene upon Stu's arrival had him asking for a cigarette instead of the Community Service Cigarette Sweeper.
  • Erica Gudis, Melinda Miamor, and Caroline A. Rice as the Party Chicks, three bird-beaked women in Down Town that are first seen at Hypnos' pajama party.
  • Mike Starr as Bull, a Texas Longhorn-type Minotaur with a Picasso art-like face who is the bartender of Down Town's Coma Bar.
  • Thomas Haden Church as Death's assistant who reads her the names of new arrivals that have died and arrived in the Land of Death
Henry Selick's arm is seen during the film's opening sequence.