Monkeybone

Monkeybone is a 2001 American black comedy fantasy film directed by Henry Selick, written by Sam Hamm, produced by Michael Barnathan and Mark Radcliffe, and executive produced by Chris Columbus, Selick, and Hamm. The film combines live-action with stop-motion animation. Loosely based on Kaja Blackley's graphic novel Dark Town, the film stars Brendan Fraser, Bridget Fonda, Chris Kattan, Giancarlo Esposito, Rose McGowan, Whoopi Goldberg, and John Turturro as the voice of the titular character. It tells the story of a cartoonist who ends up on a coma where he ends up in the location of Down Town where he runs into the titular character as he works to get back to the living while contending with an evil plot to supply Down Town with nightmares. Theatrically released on February 23, 2001, by 20th Century Fox, the film was a box-office bomb and received generally negative critical reviews for its visuals, characters and humor. Plot Stuart "Stu" Miley is a disillusioned cartoonist whose comic character, a rascal monkey named Monkeybone, is getting an animated series and merchandise, at the constant pestering of his agent and friend, Herb. He plans on proposing to his girlfriend, Julie McElroy, a sleep institute worker who helped him deal with his nightmares by changing his drawing hand, but one night, Stu falls into a coma following a car crash before he can do so. His spirit is taken to Down Town, a surreal and carnival-themed limbo-like landscape populated by mythical beings and figments of its visitors' imaginations, even Monkeybone. Stu and Monkeybone are constantly at each other's throats during his time in Down Town until discovering people can leave Down Town once they are given Exit Passes. Stu is then invited to a pajama party being hosted by Hypnos: the God of Sleep and ruler of Down Town. According to Hypnos, Stu has to steal an Exit Pass from his sister, Death, in order to wake up from his coma in time before the plug is pulled due to Stu and his sister Kimmy making a pact as children after their father's death. Stu and Monkeybone journey to Death's domain disguised as one of her employees and successfully manage to steal an Exit Pass, while narrowly escaping a nightmare Julie inflicts upon Stu in an attempt to wake him by using “Oneirix”, a chemical solution made by Julie that induces nightmares.