Monster Island (2004)

I noticed one reviewer said people didn't want to see movies like Monster Island, they wanted Lord of The Rings. Speak for yourself man, I loved this film and much prefer it over anything like Lord Of The Rings. I will watch anything with sexy Carmen Electra and this movie was entertaining and funny at the same time. The effects are cheesy, but that is part of the charm of this movie and it did remind me of the old Land of the Lost TV show, of which I am also a fan. If you get the chance watch this film and I bet if you have an open mind you'll enjoy it for what it is, simply entertainment that does it's job well. I bought the DVD and have watched this many times. Some people are just too picky about what they watch.

Expectations for this movie were low. Carmen Electra, bad stop motion animated monsters, juvenile story. Still, even going into it with low expectations, this movie was worse than I could have imagined. Take the very worst episode of "Land of the Lost" that you ever saw. Make the effects worse (yes, worse than Grumpy the Dinosaur). Now put Carmen Electra into it. There you go, that's Monster Island. There are cave men, giant insects and a sleestack. Actually, I think the sleestack is supposed to be a Pirahna-Man, but it looked like a sleestack to me. I used to like "Land of the Lost" when I was 5 years old, but I have a feeling that even 5 year olds would find this movie insulting.

Monster Island, a made for MTV movie, has plenty of the stuff that Hollywood has forgotten about, you know, making movies that are just fun to watch. Instead of blowing a huge wad of dough on spectacularly complicated computerized special effects for a 2-second blood splatter, these guys decided to have some fun with stop-motion animation and hired some of the best in the business to do it. Monster Island takes a step back in time to pay homage to the forefathers of the techniques that have spurred the imaginations of today's CGI animators. Before there were computers there was clay.Adam West being cast as Dr. Harryhausen, please look up Ray Harryhausen on imdb.com for a list of his movies, is inspired casting. The master of cheezy performance with the namesake of the master of cheezy monster movies. To round out the cast we have Joe MacLeod as adrenaline/candy junkie Stack, best friend of Josh, played by Daniel Letterle, his younger sister Jen is portrayed by Chelan Simmons who has the best B-Movie scream I've heard since Jamie Lee Curtis appeared opposite her murderous brother Michael in Halloween. Cascy Beddow as science enthusiast, Andy, has an obvious crush on Jen. Josh's ex-girlfriend, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, (Maddy), had a challenging role as an ancient warrior princess and tackled it head on. Chris Harrison's portrayal of the smarmy future politico Chase was dead on, his switch up between nice guy and slimeball was a little unnerving just as it should be. Chase is Maddy's current boyfriend and source of annoyance for Josh. The sextet, joined by VJ wannabe, Lil Mindi (Alana Husband) and her cameraman, G.T. (Jeff Geddis) to document the adventure, head for the jungle interior of a radioactive island in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle in search of Carmen Electra after she and her bodyguard, Eightball were abducted by an enormous flying insect.Why are they on a radioactive island? Because MTV held a contest and Jen entered the name of every 18-year-old she knew, the prize, won by her brother Josh, was an island party with concert by Carmen Electra, I just don't get that part though, I mean, Carmen Electra? Especially after seeing her "performance". On second thought, I do get it, she had her own "reality" show on MTV to plug, funny, she forgot to mention Monster Island during her talk-show appearances.Anyway, Eightball, her attentive bodyguard, tries to save her from the giant bug but they are both scooped up and flown over the jungle, where he is unceremoniously tossed aside by the bug as it flies toward the huge mountain in the moonlight. C. Ernst Harth plays the affable Eightball, a big guy with a big heart and an enormous sense of loyalty and duty. He has one of the most heroic moments in any movie of this genre. I can't go in to detail here, but it's a scene worth watching twice.Kudos to Jack Perez and the production team for their efforts in making this ambitious and fun movie. It is unfortunate that the audience who would have most appreciated the movie stopped watching MTV a long time ago when Yo! MTV Raps took over and music videos took a back seat to one bad "reality" show after another. Back when Michael Nesmith first devised the idea of MTV the M was for music. I'm not completely sure what it stands for now. Hopefully, the target audience will find it when it comes to DVD release.

A really fun retro science fiction-adventure-monster movie with a pleasing cast, good sense of humor, fantastic traditional stop-motion animation, a remote island, a lost tribe, giant bugs, a rubber suited monster, a papier-mache volcano and Adam West as wacky scientist Dr. Harryhausen. The story moves along quickly and is told with considerable wit. There's also a nice use of obvious miniatures of the jungle, a boat and the island itself which really help convey the feeling of a 50's adventure film. Adam West gives a bravura performance in a highly amusing role. When I first heard about this film I had my doubts but we were really pleasantly surprised by the results. A classic Saturday matinee come to life. Well done to all involved!