Monkeybone is a 2001 film that combines live-action with stop-motion animation. It was based on Kaja Blackley's graphic novel Dark Town. The movie stars Brendan Fraser, Bridget Fonda, Whoopi Goldberg, Thomas Haden Church, Rose McGowan, Dave Foley, Giancarlo Esposito & Chris Kattan, and was directed by Henry Selick.

Life couldn't be better for cartoonist Stu Miley. He has created a hit comic strip featuring Monkeybone, a petulant rascal with a penchant for wise cracks and racy antics. Stu, happy and in love with his beautiful girlfriend Julie is on the verge of big success, as his comic strip is about to become a national television show. But on the night Stu is to propose to Julie, he is struck down in a freak accident. While Stu's body lies comatose - and Julie maintains a constant bedside vigil - his conscious spirit is transported to Downtown, a purgatory-like limbo existing between life and death. Downtown has a carnival landscape populated by mythical gods and creatures who revel in the nightmares of the living. Upon his arrival, Stu learns his ominous fate: There's no turning back. And just as things seem like they couldn't get any worse, Stu's alter ego, Monkeybone, springs to life to stir up some trouble. Now, Stu must outwit Death in order to return to the world of the living before the doctors pull the plug on Stu's body. But Monkeybone has hatched his own plot that could thwart Stu's plans... Written by Devin

Stu Miley is a cartoonist who created a comic strip called Monkeybone which features the rascal monkey of the same name. Stu is in love with a sleep institute worker named Dr. Julie McElroy. When it came to the night where he was going to propose to her, a freak accident happens and Stu falls into a coma. His spirit ends up in Downtown: a purgatory limbo-like existence between life and death. Downtown is a carnival landscape populated by other people, mythical creatures, and other figments and this is where nightmares are entertainment. This is where Monkeybone comes to life and stirs up trouble for Stu. Also, Stu befriends a cat-girl named Kitty. When Stu learns that his sister Kimmy is about to pull the plug on him, he asks Hypnos: The God of Sleep what to do. Hypnos tells Stu that to get back to the living, he has to steal an Exit Pass from Death who lives in the Land of Death. However, Monkeybone and Hypnos have their own agenda with Stu's body when it comes to making nightmares. Written by Rtkat3