Monkeybone

Cheerfully demented stop-motion animation innovator Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach) tries his hand at a feature-length hybrid in the new Brendan Fraser comedy Monkeybone--and he makes a real mess of things. Leaning heavily on its low-brow antics and animated effects, the story--about a cartoonist in a coma who's obnoxious animated creation takes over his body--is sloppy, choppy, and so egregiously abbreviated that the actors don't even have time to give their characters personality or appeal. The creative, capricious, risqué "Roger Rabbit"-like animation-crossover hit that could have been peeks through from time to time, especially in vivid nightmare sequences and slapstick involving a rubbery walking corpse that Fraser occupies to pursue his alter ego. But mostly Monkeybone lurches forward in fits and starts triggered by plebeian gags and sketchbook characters. Not a necessary purchase. (R. Blackwelder)