Monkeybone

Stuart "Stu" Miley is a disillusioned cartoonist whose comic character, a rascal monkey named Monkeybone, is getting an animated series. Stu plans to propose to Dr. Julie McElroy, a sleep institute worker who helped him deal with his terrible nightmares by changing his drawing hand.

One night, Stu crashes his car after accidentally activating an inflatable Monkeybone raft, and falls into a coma. His spirit ends up in Down Town, a surreal carnival-themed limbo-like landscape populated by mythical beings and figments of its visitors' imaginations, even Monkeybone.

During his tenure there, Stu befriends a catgirl named Miss Kitty. When Stu learns that his sister Kimmy is about to disconnect his life support, he asks Hypnos, the God of Sleep, for advice. Hypnos tells Stu that in order to return to the living world, he has to infiltrate the Land of Death to steal an Exit Pass from Hypnos' sister, Death. These passes are given out to Down Town's visitors by Reapers, granting them permission to leave and awaken from their comas. Stu successfully steals an Exit Pass, but Monkeybone steals it from him, entering the living world via Stu's body as Hypnos states that they have plans for it.

Stu later finds himself imprisoned with Attila the Hun, Jack the Ripper, and Stephen King, the latter of whom recalls that his nightmare of Cujo played the same trick Monkeybone pulled on Stu. Hypnos arrives and explains to Stu that he plans to use his body to steal the "Oneirix", a chemical substance developed by Julie that can give living creatures nightmares, which serve as entertainment in Down Town and gives him more power. Upon being sent to the institute by Hypnos after being reminded of his mission, Monkeybone successfully steals the Oneirix, leaving a decoy in its place. Monkeybone puts the Oneirix inside dolls of himself so that those who come in contact with them will be infected and given nightmares.

With help from Miss Kitty, Stu escapes from his imprisonment. Monkeybone prepares a piñata for the dolls at the party. Meanwhile, Stu reveals Hypnos' plan to Death when she captures him and convinces her to send him back for only an hour, only to find himself in the body of an organ donor. As he flees the morgue attendants, Stu finds out about Monkeybone's planned party and heads there with the extractors still in pursuit.

At the party, Stu's agent, Herb, is exposed to the Oneirix in one of the Monkeybone dolls and sees his clothes coming to life in a mirror. This causes Herb to run through the party naked, telling everyone that the clothes have come to life and turned evil. Monkeybone shrugs it off as he brings down the piñata containing the dolls. Stu uses Monkeybone's main characteristics from the comics to cause him to panic and escape. A chase ensues, culminating with Stu and Monkeybone battling each other while clinging to a giant Monkeybone balloon. The balloon is eventually shot down by an incompetent police officer and both Stu and Monkeybone fall to their doom.

Stu and Monkeybone fall toward Down Town where the residents cheer on their fight. Suddenly, all the rides stop and a giant robot emerges, causing everyone to flee. When the robot captures Stu and Monkeybone, its operator is revealed to be Death, who seems quite cheerful under the circumstances. Monkeybone tries to persuade Death to let him go to the bathroom, but she puts him back in Stu's head where he belongs. Death then uses her robot to send Stu back to the living world.

Stu wakes up in his own body where he reunites and proposes to Julie. An erratic Herb appears and breaks the fourth wall by urging the audience to take off their clothes. The film cuts to an animated sequence in which the party's attendants are revealed to be monkeys in disguise.

• Brendan Fraser as Stuart "Stu" Miley, a cartoonist. Fraser also plays Monkeybone when he's in Stu's body.
• Bridget Fonda as Dr. Julie McElroy, Stu's love interest.
• Whoopi Goldberg as Death, the ruler of the Land of Death and Hypnos' sister.
• Rose McGowan as Miss Kitty, a catgirl living in Down Town whom Stu befriends.
• Giancarlo Esposito as Hypnos, the God of Sleep and Death's malicious brother.
• Chris Kattan as an organ donor that Stu briefly possesses.
• Dave Foley as Herb, Stu's boss and friend.
• Megan Mullally as Kimmy Miley, Stu's sister.
• Lisa Zane as Medusa, an inhabitant of Down Town.
• Thomas Haden Church (uncredited) as Death's assistant who reads her the names of new arrivals in the Land of Death.
• Sandra Thigpen as Alice.
• Lou Romano as the police officer who shoots down the Monkeybone balloon.
• Thomas Molloy as Arnold the Super Reaper, one of Death's minions.
• Jon Bruno as Stephen King, one of Hypnos' prisoners that was tricked into going to the Land of Death before Stu.
• Owen Masterson as Jack the Ripper, one of Hypnos' prisoners.
• Shawnee Free Jones as Lizzie Borden, one of Hypnos' prisoners.
• Jen Sung Outerbridge as Atilla the Hun, one of Hypnos' prisoners.
• Ilia Volok as Grigori Rasputin, one of Hypnos' prisoners.
• Claudette Mink as Typhoid Mary, one of Hypnos' prisoners.
• Bob Odenkirk as a surgeon.
• Robert Wuhl (uncredited) as David Stone.
• Michael Anthony Jackson as the Bug Man, an inhabitant of Down Town with the head of a male human and the body of a bug.
• Doug Jones as the Yeti, an inhabitant of Down Town who operates its nightmare-showing movie theater.
• Jody St. Michael as the Centaur, an inhabitant of Down Town depicted wearing cowboy attire.
• Arturo Gil as the rat-like guard of Down Town's prison that works for Hypnos.
• Frit Fuller and Frat Fuller as the Three-Headed Devil, an inhabitant of Down Town depicted with three heads and three legs.
• Brian Steele as Jumbo, a Ganesha-like being and the piano player at Down Town's local bar.
• Leif Tilden as the Cyclops, an inhabitant of Down Town with a large head and arms and a smaller torso and legs.
• Tom Fisher as the Community Service Cigarette Sweeper, a camel-like inhabitant of Down Town.
• Joseph S. Griffo as the BBQ Pig, a humanoid pig that is a vendor in Down Town.
• Kim Timbers-Patteri as the Wasp Woman, an female insectoid being that is often seen with Hypnos.
• Lisa Ebeyer as Betty the Bovine, a minotaur-like creature who is a vendor in Down Town.
• Wayne Doba as the Scorpion.
• Mark Vinello as Assbackwards.
• Nathan Stein as the Sea Monster, an inhabitant of Down Town that has a seahorse-like head.
• Ed Holmes as Buffalo Kachina.

The comic book Dark Town, on which Monkeybone is based, was written by Kaja Blackley, illustrated by Vanessa Chong, and published by Mad Monkey Press.[4] The journey from comic to film was initiated by a fan of the comic and member of the San Francisco animation community (Tom "Bags" Sacchi/ChasingDragons Productions NYC) who, without Blackley's knowledge, passed a copy of Dark Town on to one of Selick's producers, Denise Rotina. Selick fell in love with the book and vigorously pursued the rights. In a letter to Kaja, he wrote: "I've never felt any project was closer to my sensibilities than this one." The initial intention was to stay true to the source material, which can be seen in early designs from Selick's company, Twitching Image. However, as the project developed, it eventually evolved into Monkeybone.[5]

• Anomalisa
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• List of biggest box office bombs
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• Ray Harryhausen

• Official website
• Monkeybone at IMDb
• Monkeybone at The Big Cartoon DataBase
• Monkeybone at AllMovie
• Monkeybone at Box Office Mojo
• Monkeybone at Rotten Tomatoes
• Monkeybone at Metacritic