Monkeybone (2001)

[Bedlam 0]

Brendan Frasier, Whoopi Goldberg, a claymation evil monkey, and that guy from Wings, what more could you want from a terrible movie? It has a 20% on Rotten Tomatoes and you might even be able to get Dave Foley to talk about his role. Did I mention the presence of monkey dolls that fart some sort of concentrated hallucinogen is a major plot point?

[EmmaMontgomery 0]

I second this. I actually haven't seen it, but my friend walked out and demanded her money back when she saw it in theaters. Her rant about why the movie was terrible was hilarious, so I'm sure that Jason, Paul, and June would make a fantastic podcast if they tried to dissect this mess.

[GregJ.Hansen 316]

This movie is highly highly HIGHLY flawed, but I do own it, because I guess I have a soft spot for Brendan Frasier (Blast From the Past is a lot of fun, he plays dopey non-threatening hunk very well) and any animation directed by Henry Selick (who had previously overseen The Nightmare Before Christmas later went on to do Coraline). Plus, it's got some surprisingly great physical comedy c/o Chris Kattan, literally the only thing he's ever done that makes me laugh.

[Down10 2]

I saw this with a friend in a theater and we both thought it was horrible. We went because we both like Henry Selick's animation work, but basically every other scene in this movie that isn't animated is horrendous.

 

Also, as we were watching the movie, our theater seats collapsed. Like, they literally broke away from us. But for some reason, despite that frightening incident and the awfulness of the picture. were felt compelled to see this movie to the end. True story!

 

Fun fact: this movie features a cameo by obese ginger and "Ain't It Cool News" founder Harry Knowles.

[kimba2488 17]

I remember seeing this on Christmas Day in a double feature with Sweet November and barely being able to get through it. The only enjoyable part is the Chris Kattan part at the end. The rest is a fever dream of WTF?

[seanotron 2307]

I never saw this one because I have an extremely low Chris Kattan tolerance threshold.

[klause 0]

Seems like the perfect movie for How Did This Get Made. In fact, I'm kinda surprised Brendan Fraser hasn't made a single appearance yet (I think...?).

 

If you look in the dictionary under the entry "Next Level Bonkers," you will find this movie.

 

If I recall correctly, Brendan Fraser's character has a near-death experience and ends up in some sort of purgatory and his spirit guide is a claymation version of a cartoon monkey he made in real life? But then the monkey is evil and is trying to steal his body before he makes it back. Or something. I may be way off with that synopsis, but regardless, it has everything you need for a How Did This Get Made podcast:

 

- A horny clay monkey wearing fake boobs at one point

- Brendan Fraser

- An overwhelming amount of terribly designed late-90s sets and monster costumes

- Kris Kattan's possessed corpse

[lolholm 5]

This would be a genius episode and as OP said, Brendan Fraser is untapped (Mummy 3 bro's).

[PaulKaspick 2]

This film has it all: terrible acting exacerbated by animation, extraordinarily overdone characters and outfits, outfits, and Whoopi Goldberg.

 

Monkeybone is absolutely hilarious in how terrible it really is. I honestly cannot even begin to describe how many moments had me LITERALLY saying, "What the fuck is going on?" as I watched. The art direction with the set pieces and animated characters are out of that "I want to be like Tim Burton" period, there is a weird, fucked up sex eyes interaction with a cat woman combo, and a animated/live action satyr that looks like its having a seizure every time it moves. Just brilliant stuff.

 

Also, it was a tremendous flop.

[whysoawesome 7]

yikes... this was pure garbage. i second this suggestion.

[SlidePocket 707]

This movie is also one of the last major films that Bridget Fonda made in 2001 (the other was Kiss of the Dragon) before retiring to focus on raising a family with Danny Elfman.

[samo1523 0]

Hey guys,

 

This movie is a MUST! Absolutely one of the worst movies ever.

 

MonkeyBone with Brendan Fraser

 

IMDB gives it a 4.7 and rotten tomatoes gives it a 20%

 

 

Can't wait!

 

Sam

[Lando 2019]

How has Brendan Fraser made ZERO appearances in HDTGM films yet?

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

Journey to the center of the earth, mummy 3, that movie where Harrison Ford gets grumpy inventing medicine, George of the Jungle. Even Blast from the past is a worthy choice.

 

He really is due.

[LizDarwin 0]

I came to enter Monkeybone, but I shall thumbs up this instead. Fraser needs to be on HDTGM!

[RyanSz 3140]

This movie is crazy and would be good for an episode. It was like Hunter S. Thompson decided to write was his dreams were like when he was at the height of his drug use. Also everyone has forgotten Fraser's sister played by Megan Mullaly who is almost actively trying to kill him for a paper thin reason of them having an agreement that they would pull the plug on the other immediately if they were ever in a coma. Also Rose McGowan is a catgirl for some reason. And let's not forget that the drug that gives people nightmares was created by Fonda's character who's job was to help people with their nightmares, not create a drug to give them the worst ones of their lives. This movie was also a gigantic box office bomb with a 75 million dollar budget but only making under 8 million.

[JoeRandom 0]

Great choice. Would be a good ep

[TrevorParnell 0]

In a coma, a cartoonist finds himself trapped within his own underground creation and must find a way to get back, while racing against his popular but treacherous character, Monkeybone.

 

This movie is just Bonkers with a capital B.

[klmonline 9]

Just stopping by to bump this one back up the list. C'mon gang... You won't regret checking out this insanely insane piece of insanity!

[ThibaultTurcas 10]

I second that bump! It's actually a guilty pleasure for me as I was - like all 90s kids (?) - obsessed with Brendan Fraser after The Mummy. So George of the Jungle and MonkeyBone were a must-see!

It actually has some great ideas (Chris Kattan is amazing) and apparently some GREAT behind the scenes gossip.

 

Rose McGowan had this to say on her Instagram:

The movie would've been incredible (at least the underworld part) if the men at 20th Century Fox (the suits) hadn't fired the director, a true artist, Henry Selick 1/2 the way through filming- a profoundly stupid move. Selick went on to direct Coraline and had already made the classic, James and the Giant Peach, both tremendous pieces of work. The set design, costumes, prosthetics, actors, all at master level, at least in the underworld part of the film. What #FoxStudios turned this film into because of their fear and lack of artistic thinking was a travesty. They truly robbed us, the audience, of a possible classic. Also-fun fact alert-Monkeybone was based on a graphic novel called Dark Town. The weenies at Fox changed the name to 'Downtown' because they were scared African Americans would be upset by a psychedelic underground acid trip of a world with a CAT for a waitress named Dark Town. Hmmm... I wonder how many African American women directors they've hired in ratio to white male directors? That is what is what Fox should have been/should be concerned with.

[MeghanHarper 1]

posting just because i remember how ridiculous this is and saw it more than i care to admit since they did play it a lot on HBO

[RyanSz 3140]

I second that bump! It's actually a guilty pleasure for me as I was - like all 90s kids (?) - obsessed with Brendan Fraser after The Mummy. So George of the Jungle and MonkeyBone were a must-see!

It actually has some great ideas (Chris Kattan is amazing) and apparently some GREAT behind the scenes gossip.

 

Rose McGowan had this to say on her Instagram:

I like how she tries to make it seem that somehow changing the name from Dark Town to Downtown to Monkeybone, a movie based on a little known comic that wasn't a big enough seller on it's own to continue past the first issue, was the reason for this hunk of shit failing so hard. Also I like her not so subtlety hinting that her scenes and that half of the movie was the true masterpiece and would have sold tickets. That's sort of like how Dave Chapelle has been saying that the Daily Show started to get popular because he was the lead-in show once a week, despite the Daily Show already having grown in popularity a couple years prior.

[NathanGordon 1096]

Oh hey it's that movie I always mix up with Cool World in my mind. Am I the only one?

[RyanSz 3140]

Oh hey it's that movie I always mix up with Cool World in my mind. Am I the only one?

I can see that as they have similar aesthetics. Isn't it amazing that after the success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit that all of the subsequent attempts at making another live action/cartoonesque movies have failed fantastically. From Cool World to Monkeybone to Looney Tunes: Back In Action have nowhere near the success of Roger Rabbit. The only one that really got close was Space Jam, though that hasn't aged as well as Roger Rabbit.

[FirstAidKit 6]

Much like Southland Tales, Monkeybone is such an unpleasant experience that I really don't want HDTGM to cover it. Please don't make me relive this literal nightmare.