Monster Island

Monster Island

Okay let me start off by saying that this is one of the greatest cinematic achievements of anyones lifetime, ever. It brought tears to my eyes with its magnificent beauty and special effects. The scene where the two praying mantis start getting it on was incredibly tasteful and romantic. I was scared out of my wits when the female praying mantis killed the male. I said out loud: "oh no." true story. Let me also say that the first have of this review should be taken no more seriously than this movie. It's not great if you're expecting laughs, it's not great if you're expecting scares, but if you go in expecting nothing, it might just reach your expectations. Maybe even surpass them! And even though the movie is one gigantic crap-fest brought to us by the always good (please catch the sarcasm) MTV, I still enjoyed the bodyguard and Adam West, who carried this movie. (Adam West is always a badass)

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

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.

Can you criticize a movie for being bad when it's intended to be bad? Yes, you can. Creating a film that's so bad it's good is tougher than you might think and most attempts either fall short or go too far and are so bad they're just bad. Monster Island is one of those misfires. This MTV production has set design that looks like it was done by Sid and Marty Krofft, special effects that never decide if they're honoring or mocking Ray Harryhausen, dialog that sounds like what you'd get if you hired Karl Rove to write an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, acting that would be more in tune with one of those commercials for acne medicine, Carmen Electra proving that she genuinely can't do anything else but stand there and look hot, as well as an appearance from an apparently heavily sedated Adam West. Josh (Daniel Letterle) is one of those high school losers who hide behind a shield of sarcastic apathy. He just broke up with his "save the Earth" girlfriend Maddie (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) when he wins a trip from MTV for him and his fellow seniors to go to a tropical island and party with Carmen Electra (Carmen Electra). Then Carmen gets kidnapped by a giant flying ant and Josh leads a rescue effort along with Maddie, her new two-faced boyfriend Chase (Chris Harrison), Josh's two best friends (Cascy Beddow and Joe MacLeod) and his younger sister (Chelen Simmons). Oh, and a wannabe VJ named Lil Mandy (Alana Husband) tags along to film the mission. They wander around the jungle, run into some monsters, Maddie gets possessed by a tribal amulet, Adam West shows up to mouth a bunch of "zany" dialog as if his son just died, they find Carmen, some other stupid stuff happens…The End. Monster Island is clearly meant as a parody of 1950s drive-in monster movies. The folks who made it, however, just as clearly didn't understand what they were parodying or why it was worth parodying. So they basically just re-enact all the elements of a 1950s monster flick with some overly self-aware teen snark added on. Putting aside the questionable wisdom of mocking a sub-genre of cinema for a demographic that was born decades after the last picture in that genre was made, such mockery needs to have some sort of point. These filmmakers never figured out what it was about 1950s monster movies they wanted to make fun of or why doing it would be funny. So what they ended up with was a bad knock off of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys starring a bunch of generic characters from every bargain basement teen sex comedy. The humor is Monster Island is about two steps to the side of someone sitting on a whoopee cushion. The drama is actually funnier than the comedy. The action sequences are as faltering as a donkey with a broken leg. Nobody gets naked. Nobody swears. There's virtually no gore. Carmen Electra lip syncs worse than Britney Spears after a three day crack binge. The next time you hear somebody complain about MTV not playing more music videos, remind them that if they weren't making reality shows about New Jersey mulatto impersonators or inflatable California sex dolls that apparently came to life like Frosty the Snowman, the alternative would probably be more crap like Monster Island.

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.

Why does MTV even try anymore? Why does Carmen Electra even try? This was easily the worst piece of s*** I have ever seen. The acting at my high school is more believable than the 30 somethings playing teenagers in this one. Every frame of this movie is unbearably stupid. I think they tried to make it so bad that is was funny but failed miserably. It's just plain bad. However, if you have any taste, avoid this one at ALL COSTS. Cheesy and terrbile are the only words I can use to describe this. Why make a low budget sci fi movie in this day and age. People don't want to watch it, they want The Lord of the Rings!

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.

Well, the movie is intentionally bad done. Very campy. Anyways, this movie is so bad that... it's fairly good. Adam West seems to haven't got rusty, and the other lads and lasses, even they don't act bad, they don't do it OK, but their acting gives it the campy feeling. The badly done monsters (done like those from the 50's, at least of low standards for these special effects ridden movies), bad special effects, cheesy storyline, and "terrible" acting makes the movie what it is, and so, it's funny. This is one of the few TV movies that despite the appearance, it's funny. Take the worst movie you have ever seen, multiply it by 10, then divide it by a very funny but fairly lame movie, and you have this movie. Seriously, this movie is good rubbish. Really good rubbish.