It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

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.

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.

Monster Island, a made for MTV movie, has plenty of the stuff that Hollywood has forgotten about, you know, making movies that are just fun to watch. Instead of blowing a huge wad of dough on spectacularly complicated computerized special effects for a 2-second blood splatter, these guys decided to have some fun with stop-motion animation and hired some of the best in the business to do it. Monster Island takes a step back in time to pay homage to the forefathers of the techniques that have spurred the imaginations of today's CGI animators. Before there were computers there was clay.Adam West being cast as Dr. Harryhausen, please look up Ray Harryhausen on imdb.com for a list of his movies, is inspired casting. The master of cheezy performance with the namesake of the master of cheezy monster movies. To round out the cast we have Joe MacLeod as adrenaline/candy junkie Stack, best friend of Josh, played by Daniel Letterle, his younger sister Jen is portrayed by Chelan Simmons who has the best B-Movie scream I've heard since Jamie Lee Curtis appeared opposite her murderous brother Michael in Halloween. Cascy Beddow as science enthusiast, Andy, has an obvious crush on Jen. Josh's ex-girlfriend, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, (Maddy), had a challenging role as an ancient warrior princess and tackled it head on. Chris Harrison's portrayal of the smarmy future politico Chase was dead on, his switch up between nice guy and slimeball was a little unnerving just as it should be. Chase is Maddy's current boyfriend and source of annoyance for Josh. The sextet, joined by VJ wannabe, Lil Mindi (Alana Husband) and her cameraman, G.T. (Jeff Geddis) to document the adventure, head for the jungle interior of a radioactive island in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle in search of Carmen Electra after she and her bodyguard, Eightball were abducted by an enormous flying insect.Why are they on a radioactive island? Because MTV held a contest and Jen entered the name of every 18-year-old she knew, the prize, won by her brother Josh, was an island party with concert by Carmen Electra, I just don't get that part though, I mean, Carmen Electra? Especially after seeing her "performance". On second thought, I do get it, she had her own "reality" show on MTV to plug, funny, she forgot to mention Monster Island during her talk-show appearances.Anyway, Eightball, her attentive bodyguard, tries to save her from the giant bug but they are both scooped up and flown over the jungle, where he is unceremoniously tossed aside by the bug as it flies toward the huge mountain in the moonlight. C. Ernst Harth plays the affable Eightball, a big guy with a big heart and an enormous sense of loyalty and duty. He has one of the most heroic moments in any movie of this genre. I can't go in to detail here, but it's a scene worth watching twice.Kudos to Jack Perez and the production team for their efforts in making this ambitious and fun movie. It is unfortunate that the audience who would have most appreciated the movie stopped watching MTV a long time ago when Yo! MTV Raps took over and music videos took a back seat to one bad "reality" show after another. Back when Michael Nesmith first devised the idea of MTV the M was for music. I'm not completely sure what it stands for now. Hopefully, the target audience will find it when it comes to DVD release.

A really fun retro science fiction-adventure-monster movie with a pleasing cast, good sense of humor, fantastic traditional stop-motion animation, a remote island, a lost tribe, giant bugs, a rubber suited monster, a papier-mache volcano and Adam West as wacky scientist Dr. Harryhausen. The story moves along quickly and is told with considerable wit. There's also a nice use of obvious miniatures of the jungle, a boat and the island itself which really help convey the feeling of a 50's adventure film. Adam West gives a bravura performance in a highly amusing role. When I first heard about this film I had my doubts but we were really pleasantly surprised by the results. A classic Saturday matinee come to life. Well done to all involved!