Monkeybone

Remember Brendan Fraser? The wacky guy from George Of The Jungle and The Mummy who proved he could act in Gods & Monsters? Yes?

Remember Monkeybone?

No-one seems to remember this wacky, comic-book inspired, semi-animated flash-in-the-pan. But they really should. Because… well, it’s wacky, comic-book, semi-animated goodness

In short, Monkeybone is about Stu Miley (Fraser), comic-book artist and creator of the titular character: a rascally, vulgar primate who’s about to go to television and make him loads of money. But, after a series of unfortunate events (no, Lemony Snickett, I am not stealing your lines), Stu ends up in a coma and trapped in a purgatory nether-world filled with monsters, freaks and figments of various imaginations…including a certain stop-motion monkey (voiced by John Tuturro).

It’s a delicious freakshow all up – Stu whinging his way around limbo with all his new friends (including Rose McGowan, Thomas Haden Church, and a delightful Whoopi Goldberg as Death), while his sister (Megan Mullally) tries to pull the plug. And of course there’s Monkeybone, who only wants to steal Stu’s body and shag his hot doctor girlfriend (Bridget Fonda).

Got all that? Right.

It’s not perfect. At times it does lag and become mundane, despite all the stop-motion, costumed freaks available for viewing. But the slumps are few, and are bolstered by inspired plot-lines involving an ‘evil’ Stephen King, a possessed corpse (Chris Kattan) chased through town by organ-coveting surgeons, some unsettling nightmare scenes, and a lot of tongue in cheek.