Monster Island starts as everyday high school teenager Josh (Daniel Letterle) answers the door to find a film-crew from MTV informing him that he & a bunch of his classmates have won a competition to spend a weekend on a tropical island with the one & only Carmen Electra (Herself). Before you know Josh & his mates are on the island enjoying themselves when Carmen decides to take to the stage & do a dance number, while mid performance a giant Queen Ant swoops from the night sky & kidnaps Carmen flying off with her to a large mountain. Fearing personal injury most of the partying teens decide to head back to the safety of the ship while Josh & a few brave souls decide to stay behind, find Carmen & rescue her. On their way they come across giant mutant insects & other various perils...
This Canadian American co-production actually premiered on MTV & was co-written & directed by Jack Perez & while I understood what it was trying to do I thought Monster island was terrible & was even worse than the Spanish American early 80's co-production of the same name Monster Island (1981) which at least had Peter Cushing in it. Basically this Monster island is trying to be a fun, witty & clever homage to all those giant monster/lost world type flicks from the 50's & 60's & it fails miserably, there are so many awful attempts at humour that just miss the mark by the proverbial mile it's uncanny. I mean by the law of average the makers of this should have got a few of the jokes or gags to work even if just by the law of average or just plain dumb luck but no, Monster Island is one seriously unfunny film. The film moves along at a reasonable pace but it never grips you, the character's are awful Ameican teen stereotypes of the absolute worst & most annoying kind, the plot has no reason to exist & there's not so much a story as just a series of loosely connected events. I hate to say it but Monster Island is the sort of low-brow witless rubbish that looks as if it was made by idiots for idiots, at least I saw it on telly for free so at least that does ease the pain a little bit as I would be very upset if I had spent good money on it.
Just to try & stay authentic to it's original sources there's a character called Dr. Harryhausen & the giants bugs are stop-motion animated rather than CGI computer generated. The animation isn't too bad but it doesn't really sit that well aside the awful attempts at humour (the two Praying Mantis having sex with each other for instance) & the modern look & feel of the film as a whole. It just doesn't work. There's absolutely zero blood, gore or violence & nothing scary or exciting happens.
Filmed in British Columbia in Canada, the film has a cheap slick made for telly appearance that doesn't appeal to me. The acting is awful, Carmen Electra plays herself badly while former 60's Batman star Adam West has a cameo as a scientist.
Monster island is a terrible film made to appeal to the lowest common denominator, it has no wit, is not funny in the slightest & the stop-motion animation homage just looks out of place. The sooner I forget about this one the better as far as I am concerned.
This Canadian American co-production actually premiered on MTV & was co-written & directed by Jack Perez & while I understood what it was trying to do I thought Monster island was terrible & was even worse than the Spanish American early 80's co-production of the same name Monster Island (1981) which at least had Peter Cushing in it. Basically this Monster island is trying to be a fun, witty & clever homage to all those giant monster/lost world type flicks from the 50's & 60's & it fails miserably, there are so many awful attempts at humour that just miss the mark by the proverbial mile it's uncanny. I mean by the law of average the makers of this should have got a few of the jokes or gags to work even if just by the law of average or just plain dumb luck but no, Monster Island is one seriously unfunny film. The film moves along at a reasonable pace but it never grips you, the character's are awful Ameican teen stereotypes of the absolute worst & most annoying kind, the plot has no reason to exist & there's not so much a story as just a series of loosely connected events. I hate to say it but Monster Island is the sort of low-brow witless rubbish that looks as if it was made by idiots for idiots, at least I saw it on telly for free so at least that does ease the pain a little bit as I would be very upset if I had spent good money on it.
Just to try & stay authentic to it's original sources there's a character called Dr. Harryhausen & the giants bugs are stop-motion animated rather than CGI computer generated. The animation isn't too bad but it doesn't really sit that well aside the awful attempts at humour (the two Praying Mantis having sex with each other for instance) & the modern look & feel of the film as a whole. It just doesn't work. There's absolutely zero blood, gore or violence & nothing scary or exciting happens.
Filmed in British Columbia in Canada, the film has a cheap slick made for telly appearance that doesn't appeal to me. The acting is awful, Carmen Electra plays herself badly while former 60's Batman star Adam West has a cameo as a scientist.
Monster island is a terrible film made to appeal to the lowest common denominator, it has no wit, is not funny in the slightest & the stop-motion animation homage just looks out of place. The sooner I forget about this one the better as far as I am concerned.