Vergänglicher Ruhm - Die Monkees Story

As a movie, <i>Daydream Believers</i> seemed rather hastily put together, especially in terms of the script.  This is, perhaps, not the most informative or accurate bit you'll ever see about the Monkees.  However, the movie succeeds in telling a good story and championing the Monkees for their talent as entertainers <i>and</i> as musicians, as well as explaining with clarity some of the things about the Monkees that are commonly misunderstood.  It receives bonus points for very good casting, and for prominently featuring “All of Your Toys,” one of the Monkees’ great “lost” songs (and among the first the Monkees recorded together as a real band).

Where the movie is good, the DVD is great—not for any spectacular audio/video presentation, but in the extras.  Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork each have their own commentary tracks, on which they discuss various points on Monkee history from their own points-of-view.  These are very revealing and informative, and bless the movie for providing the platform for the Monkees to comment on the types of things that never come up in interviews.  But if you want interviews, the DVD also delivers rather lengthy ones by the three participating Monkees.  New Concorde should be commended for getting Monkee participation on this disc.  It transformed a somewhat inconsequential (albeit entertaining) movie into something really worthwhile.

This movie was an enjoyable watch; missed it the first time but caught it on Netflix recently. The resemblance of the actors to the real Monkees is amazing, particularly Davy (George Stanchev, although much taller than the real Davy) and Peter (L.B. Fisher). Although Mike Nesmith (Jeff Geddis) and Micky Dolenz (Aaron Lohr) were not exact lookalikes,they gave stunning portrayals. For example, Geddis' mannerisms and Texan accent were spot on. And Lohr's portrayal of Dolenz' over-the-top on-stage performances and his crazy facial expressions, mimicry, etc. brought back fond memories. All of the actors took great care in portraying each of The Monkees' individual personalities. Even their voices were soundalikes (although British viewers say that Stanchev's accent was not an authentic Manchester accent). Although the television show was depicted accurately, the writing for the entire movie was very poor; something was missing. SPOILER: For example, the Beatles threw a party for the Monkees when they were touring in London. This entire scene (which should have been exciting) was boring. All in all, this was a fond tribute to The Monkees but it could have been exceptional.

Being a 14 year old Monkees fan I obviously wasn't around when the Monkees were at the height of their success- but I know their story pretty well. I didn't know what to make of the film at first- somebody else portraying my beloved Monkees? But after watching it I found that I loved it- it was pretty much true to the Monkees story and was a lot of fun. The soundtrack was great too- it will leave you humming Monkees songs for days afterwords!

The film is a credit to Davy,Micky,Peter and Mike and to the actors who played them [George Stanchev, Aaron Lohr, L.B Fisher and Jeff Geddis] watch the movie if you are a Monkees fan..if you are NOT a Monkees fan, watch the movie and you will probably become one!

I don't know why there is so much criticism of this film. While I was watching it someone walked in and thought that it was actually 'The Monkees', that shows what a great job all the lead actors did. Aaron Lohr was quite convincing as Micky Dolenz which isn't easy as Mr Dolenz has a very unique look. Jeff Geddis was a very convincing Mike. George Stanchev did a fine job of Davy Jones in my opinion, I thought his accent was pretty good and the look was spot on. LB Fisher was a very convincing Peter Tork. They not only looked like 'The Monkees' they talked and moved like them. What more do you want from a Biopic? You will never get every detail right as you cannot cram several years into a couple of hours without some artistic license. The only film that really got it all right was Ray! The characterisations of other famous people in the film didn't quite live up to it, especially Jimmy Hendricks and The Beatles, but the Jack Nicholson was pretty good I'd say. Could they have done things better in this film? Yes of course they could, but over all it was a pretty good and convincing portrayal. My only criticism is the ending could have been better and in fact the film itself could have been a bit longer to show more about the split of the group etc. But I would still wholeheartedly recommend this film to anyone with an interest in music, the 60s or The Monkees themselves.

I didn't really know what to expect when I tuned into VH1 for their latest BioPic. After spending a day with Monkees episodes and then the Behind the Music, I was curious what it would be like to have "fake-Monkees" on the screen. What I found was an interesting film. The individual performances were 75% acceptable... I was actually awe-struck while watching L.B. Fisher portray Peter Tork. I think just about everyone has to admit that he certainly nailed his role. Aaron Lohr pulled Micky off alright. His hair was a little too curly, but that's forgivable, right? Jeff Geddis was a convincing Mike. Especially during the audition scenes. I actually believe he had the timing and the movements exactly correct, or at least very nearly. Now, for the not-so-pleasantly-reviewed-actor. George Stanchev may be a fine actor, but I don't think he was well suited for Davy. For one, he was too tall; Two, the accent.. ouch; and thirdly the cleft in his chin grabbed more attention than his acting. Agree? Disagree? Oh well. Did anyone else notice the green sign that read "Davy is Groovy" in *every* concert sequence? I found that kind of endearing, actually, the budget really must have been quite low, but I can deal with that.

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