| 90 |
Salon.com
Charles Taylor
A giddy madcap classic, one of the wildest and funniest American comedies in years.
|
| 83 |
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
There's unwieldy mess -- but there's also unruly brilliance to this dark and funny story about the havoc that ensues when a man's uncensored Freudian id is allowed the run of the place.
|
| 80 |
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Thomas
Grand fantasy, in which Brendan Fraser and stylish design and energetic special effects play off one another for maximum fun.
|
| 70 |
The New York Times
Dana Stevens
The movie is booby-trapped with so many loud gags that some of its sneakier humor is nearly lost in the din.
|
| 63 |
USA Today
Susan Wloszczyna
Wildly uneven collage of effects and live action is no Disney-bland vision of dreams gone bonkers. There's enough Freudian material to reupholster a thousand therapy couches.
|
| 60 |
Film.com
Robert Horton
Looks like a very cheerful and imaginative accident.
|
| 60 |
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
A fairly serious psychodrama rendered in cartoon images.
|
| 60 |
Washington Post
Michael O'Sullivan
Although Monkeybone will undoubtedly make you laugh at its slapstick highjinks, the irony is that for a movie that's ultimately about soul, that's the one commodity that's in precious short supply up on the screen.
|
| 58 |
Portland Oregonian
Shawn Levy
It's alternately mind-boggling and patience-testing, mixing astounding sequences of over-the-top invention with scenes of inept acting and indifferent filmmaking.
|
| 58 |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Sean Axmaker
Selick proves a clumsy director of live-action scenes and never overcomes the muddled, half-baked script or the scatological gags.
|
| 50 |
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
An occasionally delightful mess of a movie.
|
| 50 |
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
A shapeless, chaotic, overly frantic comedy that manages to make almost no sense, even if you're paying close attention.
|
| 50 |
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
Too grotesque for children and just too silly for their parents.
|
| 50 |
LA Weekly
Hazel-Dawn Dumpert
Like so many movies that depend on effects for effect, plot comes in a poor second to spectacle. That leaves the Fraser, funny and sexy as hell, left with little chance to prove it.
|
| 42 |
Mr. Showbiz
Cody Clark
A movie interesting enough in its conception to appeal to adults winds up being best suited to preadolescent sensibilities.
|
| 40 |
Chicago Reader
Lisa Alspector
The scenes set on earth--messy, predictable satire about the commercial exploitation of fevered genius. The unconscious/underworld scenes may be boring because neosurrealism is a cliche.
|
| 38 |
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
Feels like it's been homogenized and Hollywoodized to death.
|
| 38 |
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
The movie never takes off; it's a bright idea the filmmakers were unable to breathe life into.
|
| 38 |
Chicago Tribune
Mark Caro
Isn't much more creative than your average gross-out comedy.
|
| 30 |
Washington Post
Rita Kempley
The result is a script so needlessly complicated that it defies comprehension.
|
| 30 |
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
Selick is widely and rightly regarded as a master of surreal, dark humor, and wildly inventive animation technique, and Monkeybone is the first tarnish on his otherwise spotless reputation.
|
| 30 |
Variety
Dennis Harvey
It's equal parts wacky, sappy and sniggery.
|
| 30 |
Dallas Observer
Robert Wilonsky
Like a half-remembered dream, the movie's often so overwhelming that even its dull, dead moments (of which there are many, unfortunately) leave you wondering what you're missing and what you've just forgotten.
|
| 25 |
New York Daily News
Jack Mathews
A shell of a romantic fantasy festooned with characters inspired by and resembling those in the bar scene in "Star Wars," the waiting room in "Beetlejuice" and the circus in "A Bug's Life."
|
| 25 |
Baltimore Sun
Athima Chansanchai
A raunchy, remorseless "Curious George."
|
| 25 |
Boston Globe
Jay Carr
For all its antic grasping it lies flatter on the screen than its graphic novel source lies on the page.
|
| 10 |
Wall Street Journal
Joe Morgenstern
Adds up to one numbingly unfunny comedy.
|
| 10 |
Village Voice
Michael Atkinson
A self-adrenalizing, self-destructing pop-culture whirligig.
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