Mary Elizabeth Winstead Movie:

		List Price: $19.98		Label: Dej (Ingram) Salesrank: 65087 Released: November 2, 2004
		Our Price: $3.33
		Used Price: $1.19
		MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Media: DVD

Monster Island Reviews:
2 MONSTER ISLAND in pan & scan scam
2006-07-25 -

Being like a Harryhausen film I expected at least 5 monsters. There were 2 stop motion types (tho 2 of one and a few of the other), and a dumb creature from the monster lagoon (ohh not again).
Ohh, plus one dummy spider for 1.5 seconds that doesn't move.

The stop motion is as good as any.

You can see from the clips in the behind the scenes it is cropped from the original widescreen! What a mistake for an effects intravoganza (or any DVD unless having 2 versions).
I am over the age of 13.


Harryhausen Tribute
2005-11-01 - This MTV made for TV movie is a tribute to stop-motion master Ray Harryhausen. Adam West even plays a mad scientist by the name of Harryhausen. The action centers around an MTV concert by Carmen Electra held on a small tropical island. Things get bad when a giant flying insect grabs Carmen and flies off with her. While some believe Carmen is now beyond hope, a small group of teens decide that any hope is worth pursuing and they set off to rescue the pop singer.

The giant insect is not the only monster on the island and we are treated to giant preying mantises, a giant spider, giant ants, a gill man, and even a predatory fungus with a dash of horseshoe crab. All must be overcome in order to rescue Carmen Electra.

As a tribute, this movie works quite well. The plot is a little weak but rather typical for movies targeting the same audience. I was a little surprised that MTV made this film and made the MTV personnel act like jerks. Definitely not their best job at self promotion but a great effort at stop motion animation. Some DVD extras take you behind the scenes to show just what is involved in making a stop motion extravaganza. If you like giant bugs and monsters then this is a film to watch.

REALITY SHOWS ARE DANGEROUS!
2005-08-14 - The Bug was super-scary. I guess this was the real live reality show cause it almost killed poor Carmen when she was singing her cool rocking song. I don't think that I would be brave enough to be on a reality show like this... I think I could do something on Survivor, but not on Monster Island.

I never knew there were so many real monster in the world. I thought that King Arthur and Jesus killed most of them, except for Big Foot, of course.

My only thing about it was that that real cool dude, Carmen's rocking husband dude from some band in the 80's wasn't in this movie. The MTV said they were getting married on this show?!? But I did get up to pee once so I guess that I could have missed it, but I don't think that they could have gotten married where they had poor sweet Carmen captured. She looked really smoking and sexy sexy sexy in this movie. That is the most important thing!!!


Monstrously Bad
2005-06-30 - 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.


MTV's Tributes to the 50s Monster Flicks, Or Big Cheese
2005-06-14 - [IN FACT 2.5 STARS] If you find a MTV movie with Carmen Electra playing herself, called 'Monster Island,' you know you cannot take it seriously. When it is made with unknown actors, and directed by the person whose previous work is 'Wild Things 2,' you just don't expect too much. Surprisingly, however, 'Monster island' is not all bad; in fact, acting is fairly good, and if you get what the film is trying to do, the cheesy special effects would not be a big embarrassment.

'Monster Island' is not a horror; it's more like a parody of those B-films made in the 50s, which featured big bugs or monsters that attack humans. In this MTV version, the characters come to an isolated island somewhere in the ocean (near that famous mysterious triangle, maybe). They have a party and concert (of Carmen Electra), but a red big ant-like bug makes a havoc there, and it snatches Carmen and flies away to the mountain.

Now it's the time for the stock characters to rescue her, including Josh and his ex-girlfriend Maddy, followed by opportunist TV crew thinking that this is going to be a reality TV show (how about 'Survivors'?). Their adventures include several fights against bugs, and an encounter with a strange scientist played by Adam West. La La Vasquez and Nick Carter appear as themselves, but the time allotted to them is too short.

As the name of Adam West's character suggests (he is called Dr. Harryhausen), the film is partly a tribute to old-fashioned monster flicks, as 'Spy Kids 2' is. The monsters are of cheap, cheesy kind, low-tech fake creatures powered by humans hiding outside the frame of the camera.

Though there are some funny moments, and actors are doing good jobs (considering the low-budget situation), the film lacks brio that would have made it more enjoyable. Another director like Robert Rodriguez would have imbued energy into the ordinary story, but here Jack Perez directs everything in an autopilot fashion, missing every opportunity to liven the whole things up. When a certain green 'thing' comes up from a swamp, it is a good chance to do some comedy, or something. However, 'Monster Island' lets the great chance slip away, only showing a feebly done, not-so-funny set-piece.

Intentionally made cheesy and corny, 'Monster Island' might be a good choice if you have nothing to do. Otherwsie, you might skip it, and watch much better 'Eight Legged Freak' instead.