Monkeybone

Brendan Fraser plays Stu, an LA cartoonist who`s just sold an animated series based on his libidinous character Monkeybone to cable television. He`s injured in an accident just before proposing to his doctor girlfriend Julie - Bridget Fonda. The comatose Stu - despite the best efforts of his sister to pull the plug - is jolted into the nightmare realm of Downtown where Monkeybone is alive and active. Monkeybone ultimately betrays his creator and returns to the land of the living in Stu`s body to create havoc and woo Julie.

Looking at this film you wonder just what the audience is for it - it`s got an M rating for the truly grotesque nature of some of its material - suitable only for the 15 pluses - and yet so much of the humour is puerile, aimed you would think at the under sevens. Director Henry Selick is a protege of Tim Burton and his provenance shows, but he lacks Burton`s talent to balance the macabre with art and eccentricity.

Brendan Fraser is not going to regard this as his finest moment on celluloid and neither is Bridget Fonda who`s only given bland to play. Monkeybone, voiced by John Turturro is a truly uncharismatic character. This is one of those expensive disasters that studios like Fox can only wring their hands about.