MonkeyBone (Rental) (2001)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	None
Rating
Year Of Production	2001
Running Time	88:58
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Henry Selick
Studio Distributor	Twentieth Century Fox	Starring	Brendan Fraser Bridget Fonda Chris Kattan Giancarlo Esposito Rose McGowan Whoopi Goldberg
Case	?
RPI	Rental	Music	Anne Dudley

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Monkeybone is a film about a promising animator who is trapped in a coma and must fight his way out to return to his true love.

    Stu Miley (Brendan Fraser) is a young comic artist who is starting a promising animation career and is just about to propose to his girlfriend (Bridget Fonda). A television series featuring his comic character Monkeybone has just been picked up by the Comedy Channel and his future seems assured. Unfortunately, a freak accident leaves Stu in a coma and he must recover before his family pulls the plug on his life support.

    While in his coma, Stu is trapped in Downtown, a place filled with other coma victims, where people's nightmares are the main form of entertainment. While trapped here, Stu meets up with his creation, Monkeybone, and they decide to find a way back to reality before they are sent to the land of death.

    I would not be surprised if you missed this film at the cinemas as it received very little publicity and had a short theatrical run. Watching the movie, it is easy to see why this happened as the film fails on numerous levels. While the initial idea for this film had some potential, this movie fails to engage the audience with unsympathetic characters and comedy that misses the mark. If you are a big Brendan Fraser fan, you may want to check this out but do not have high expectations.

Video

    The transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer is extremely sharp throughout and excellent levels of detail are visible at all times. No low level noise was detected at any stage during this transfer. During the numerous dark scenes during Stu's coma, excellent levels of shadow detail are always visible.

    The natural colour palette is accurately reproduced by this transfer. During many of the scenes in Downtown and the land of death, an extremely vibrant and varied colour palette is used and this remains well-saturated with no bleeding or other problems detected.

    No MPEG artefacts were detected during the transfer.

    Some minor aliasing artefacts may be seen during this transfer with examples visible at 16:55, 31:17, 48:22, 59:46, 61:46 and 66:09. Each of these artefacts are quite minor and are only minimally distracting.

    Some very minor film artefacts were detected. Some examples of these artefacts may be seen at 0:59, 2:40, 9:19, 30:27 and 36:34. All of these artefacts are very minor and are not distracting to the viewer.

    A single set of white English subtitles for the Hearing Impaired are included on this disc. I extensively sampled these subtitles and they appear to be consistently accurate.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The dialogue is clear and easy to understand at all times. No dropouts or problems with audio sync were detected.

    The musical score by Anne Dudley suits the on-screen action but, like the movie itself, is quickly forgotten.

    The surround channels are used extensively throughout the transfer for both the score and effects to create an enveloping mix.

    The subwoofer channel is effectively used occasionally throughout the movie but never draws attention to itself.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    The very basic non-animated menu is presented at either 1.78:1 or 1.33:1 depending upon your player setup.

    The Region 4 rental version of this disc misses out on;

• dts soundtrack
• Directors Commentary
• Animation featurette
• Extended Scenes
• Creature Gallery

    The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;

• Nothing

    As this is currently only a rental release, a fair region comparison between retail versions may not be made at this time.

    Monkeybone is an instantly forgettable comedy that holds no lasting appeal for viewers.

    The 1.85:1 16x9 enhanced video transfer is of excellent quality with only very minor aliasing and film artefacts visible.

    The Dolby Digital 5.1 surround mix for this feature is well-produced and creates an enveloping soundfield.

    No extras are included on this disc.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall