Monster Island

Monster Island is geared for the under 30 crowd and over 9 crowd. Since I don't fall into the ages between 9 and 30, this was not that great a movie for me. I might as well be watching Beavis and Butthead. The movie is silly and is good for a laugh or two for either a group of friends watching or watching the movie by yourself. I would think that this movie needs friends with you. Teens having crazy fun and out for a crazy adventure are not my ideas of a good movie. The movie does/can make one smile and forget about one's troubles. So, the movie does what it is supposed to do -- provide entertainment, important message, optional. Pizza and beer all around for those 21 and older and soda instead of beer for those younger. Enjoy

It wasn't as if I was deliberately trying to hate the movie, far from it, and I never try to do that watching any movie as I believe in being fair and encouraging when watching and critiquing. Any movie that aims to be a homage or poking fun at anything does promise to be good entertainment, and actually despite having Carmen Electra Monster Island did seem as though it would be one of those movies. Even when taking it for what it is though, the bad execution just took away from my enjoyment of the movie. It does have redeeming qualities of course, the production design is decent, the music score rousing, Adam West is a lot of fun even if hammy and Mary Elizabeth Winstead is very endearing here. However, I didn't like the look of the special effects at all, the monsters(looking at home in the 50s era but seem laughable now) seemed half-finished and fake, and actually I do agree with the commentator that wasn't sure about whether they were trying to honour or poke fun at those of Harryhausen(which I have always found amazing for their time and ones that still hold up). Some will like the tongue-in-cheek humour, for me the dialogue was lacking in wit and in freshness too and came across as awkward instead, the stupidest line going to West as outlined in a previous review. The story seemed stretched and contrived, with the horror elements ranging from tame to non-descript, while the characters are cardboard and irritating. Aside from West and Winstead, the rest of the acting is bland. That is especially the case with Carmen Electra, contrary to what was implied in the marketing she is only in the film 15-20 minutes and she doesn't do anything other than try and look pretty. Just in case I get flamed(and knowing the type of movie Monster Island is I know eventually I will do), I understand totally what Monster Island was trying to do, I just felt that it tried so hard that everything to make a homage/parody work just got lost. That is of course my opinion, and if you think differently(and I can completely understand if that's the case) that's fine, I have nothing against you. In conclusion, even when taking into account what Monster Island was trying to do I didn't care for it at the end of the day, sorry. 4/10 Bethany Cox

I kinda expect someone like Carmen Electra to appear in a made for MTV piece of nonsense like Monster Island, but I was surprised to see Mary Elizabeth Winstead's name in the credits - it just goes to show that we all have to start somewhere. The presence of the lovely Miss Winstead was the impetus I needed to watch this movie, but to be fair, I was surprised how much I enjoyed the whole thing, regardless of Mary and her marvellous midriff.

The film is set on the eponymous island, located in the Bermuda Triangle, where MTV competition winner Josh (Daniel Letterle) and his classmates arrive for the recording of the channel's Tropical Weekend Getaway, the host of which is Carmen Electra. Unfortunately, as Carmen is performing a musical number in front of her fans, she is whisked away to a nearby mountain by a giant flying ant. In order to impress his ex-girlfriend Maddy (Winstead), Josh declares that he will rescue Carmen; he is accompanied on his quest by several others, Maddy included.

This deliberately cheesy film boasts deliberately cheesy performances (Adam West as Dr. Harryhausen being the hammiest), and features plenty of deliberately cheesy scenes with deliberately cheesy special effects, although, having said that, fans of stop-motion animation will almost certainly get a kick out of the film's massive praying mantises, which are far better than expected.

B-movie fans will also probably enjoy the silly 'man in a rubber suit' monster Piranha Man, who emerges from a swamp to attack the group, and the oversized ants at the mountain (which turns out to be a giant nest). In addition to the giant critters, the film features plenty of eye-candy: Carmen Electra wears a skimpy animal skin outfit, Winstead doesn't (but still looks hotter), and Chelan Simmons as Josh's ditzy blonde sister Jen is also appealing.

Monster Island is by no means a great film, but those who enjoy dumb creature features should still derive a reasonable amount of enjoyment from the crazy monsters and the general silliness of the whole thing.

A group of boozehound teens win a trip to a tropical island in the Bermuda triangle. Everything goes fine at first, until they find out a mad scientist's monstrous fauna have taken interest in them. 'Monster Island' is a perfect throwback to the monster movies of the 1950's. The makers throw virtually everything you can think of into this flick. Stop motion monsters, giant insects, a contaminated island, unconvincing miniatures, explosions, a mad scientist (Played by Adam West, named 'Dr. Harryhausen' no less!) and more. The intentionally campy effects are fun and the fast-pace make the film great fun for bad movie enthusiasts who are looking for something cheesy but enjoyable. My rating for 'Monster Island'-7/10.

ABOUT THE DVD: The picture for 'Monster Island' is presented in a full frame 1.33:1 transfer. Not a bad looking picture at all. I noticed a little grain early on but that quickly fades away and colors are bright, skin tones are good and there's minimal edge enhancement. The 2.0 Dolby sound is good, dialogue is clear and crisp and the various pop tunes and sound effects are judicially used and remain effects throughout. Extras on the disc are plentiful. There a roughly 15 minute featurette that covers the films various effects, stop motion armatures, miniatures, and the construction of the large-scale creature effects. Next up are interviews with various cast and crew members, an enjoyable feature in which everyone expresses they're views on the film and are obviously had a good time making the film. Also included are scene selection, the trailer for the film, a French language track and awesome animated menus. My rating for the DVD: 8/10.

Watching this, it almost seems like it was filmed to be a comedy. But it's really hard to tell. If it's filmed as a horror movie, it's absolutely awful, and filmed as a comedy it's also terrible. The cover makes this look like a Carmen Electra versus the giant bugs movie, but it isn't. The plot is several teens win a contest and get to party with Carmen Electra on a deserted island. Problem comes when a giant flying ant swoops her up, and the select few kids that want to help, go on a journey to the big mountain to save her. The bugs were clay animated, and when the bug swoops her up, they have Carmen and her bodyguard clay animated also. It's a really ridiculous and tired premise, which moves from comedy, then to "horror" then back to comedy. The last 30 minutes of the movie are so painfully stupid it's hard to watch. And for anyone watching this because they enjoy Carmen's impressive resume'e, don't. She only has a total of maybe 15 minutes of screen time or less. Though I'm sure many people are amused by this, it's not a good movie and it's awfully stupid.

*Just to add, Adam West plays a role in the film as an island inhabitant, and has the stupidest line in the film, "You kids shouldn't be horsing around here." My rating: * out of ****. 91 mins. PG for language and violence.