ExplorerDS6789
We open on the infamous Baron Boris Von Frankenstein, who has just perfected his latest and greatest experiment: a formula that can destroy anything it touches...except for glass vials. The baron feels that the time is right and so he sends invitations to all the monsters to assemble for a convention at which he will make a very important announcement. Invitations are sent via messenger-bat all over the world to such ghoulish folks as Count Dracula, the Mummy, the Invisible Man, The Creature (from the Black Lagoon), the Hunchback (of Notre Dame), The Werewolf (not the Wolf Man), and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Another invitation finds its way to Felix Flanken, a nerdy pharmacist, and Dr. Frankenstein's nephew. For you see, the baron plans to turn over everything to Felix, as opposed to one of the monsters whom he couldn't trust as far as he could throw them. He reveals this plan to his secretary, a voluptuous, sultry, femme-fatale red-head named Francesca. Naturally she's miffed that someone other than her will be the baron's heir. Meanwhile, all the monsters, and Felix, have boarded the same steam ship bound for the Caribbean, except they won't go directly to the Isle of Evil, so at midnight they all jump ship and make their way to the island in their own unique methods. So they all arrive and the meeting can get underway. Dr. Frankenstein announces his plans to retire and turn over everything to an unnamed heir, and only Francesca knows who it will be. She conspires with Dracula, the most cunning and deceptive of the other monsters...as well as the horniest, so he was willing to listen to her. Unfortunately, it isn't long before Frankenstein's Monster and his wise-cracking, cackling mate get involved and the result is a big dining room brawl. Heads literally roll.The next day, while the ghoulish gang sleep off their hangovers, Felix arrives and eagerly greets his Uncle Boris. Before they can get into any technicalities, Francesca agrees to take the baron's nephew on a picnic, where of course she plans to set up an ambush, with Dracula charged with taking him out. Unfortunately, the count proves to be extremely clumsy in his efforts. He doubts Francesca's word and turns to the Monster and his mate for help, and they gang up on Francesca, who literally gets the drop on them and decides to deploy a back-up emergency plan: send an invitation to a previously uninvited, dangerous guest. Can't see how this plan would backfire at all. So, Uncle Boris gives Felix a tour of the castle, saying, "one day, this will all be yours" and tells him he'll be his heir whether he likes it or not. Naturally the mortal lad is a tad unnerved about having monsters beneath him and wants to think it over, so he goes fishing. Francesca meanwhile escapes from Dracula, the Monster and his mate again and lands in the mote. She's rescued by Felix and berates him for something he had no control over. Fortunately, Felix has quite the bitch-slap, which instantly makes her fall in love with him. Not kidding. Francesca realizes the error of her ways and knows what is about to happen, or rather what she caused to happen, and so they make a break for it just as Dracula assembles all the other monsters to go capture Felix. That's when It arrives, via Francesca's invitation. It being an 800-foot pink gorilla...though what is something called It supposed to look like? Fortunately, it's Dr. Frankenstein to the rescue. He helps Felix and Francesca to escape, while he gives everyone a demonstration of his formula. Instantly, the Isle of Evil and all its occupants are obliterated. All alone at sea, the two love birds learn a few secrets about one another, and supposedly maybe live happily ever after possibly?I definitely recommend this monster classic for the Halloween season. Good story, decent plot, the music is awesome. Props to Maury Laws for his swinging '60s soundtrack. Voice acting is great: Boris Karloff shines as the Baron, Gale Garnett and Phyllis Diller are great too, and of course, Allen Swift really delivers the dream cast of the movie, imitating Jimmy Stewart as Felix, Peter Lorre as Yetch, the comic-relief corpse butler, Sydney Greenstreet as the Invisible Man, Bela Lugosi as Dracula, and so on. The animation is a tad choppy in some places, but remember, this was 1967. No computers. These were all puppets that had to be repositioned for every frame. So, if you like the Rankin-Bass Animagic Christmas specials, you will enjoy Mad Monster Party. It comes highly recommended.
zetes
I grew up with the Rankin & Bass Christmas specials (Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman) and some of their feature films (The Last Unicorn, The Hobbit), and I always enjoyed them. I had always been interested in seeing their Halloween movie, Mad Monster Party. Unfortunately, it's kind of a dud. Perhaps their cheapy stop motion just cannot sustain a feature film. It gets old pretty quick here (really, I think it's cheaper than something like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, although it's probably been quite a while since I've last seen that). The story revolves around Dr. Frankenstein, who holds the position of master of the board of monsters. He wants to give up his position to his nephew Felix, which draws the ire and jealousy of the other monsters, who then try to dispatch him. Felix is a hopeless clutz, but with the help of Frankenstein's sexy assistant Francesca, perhaps he can survive the monsters' attacks. Boris Karloff voices Dr. Frankenstein. Gale Garnett does Francesca and Allen Swift does Felix and all of the monster characters (his Jimmy Stewart impression for Felix is particularly grating), with the one exception of the Bride of Frankenstein, who is voiced by Phyllis Diller. Diller's presence is particularly painful. Instead of making the Bride look like the iconic one from James Whale's 1935 film (there may have been rights issues, judging from their depiction of the Creature from the Black Lagoon), they just make her a Phyllis Diller puppet, complete with Phyllis Diller's terrible comedy. I would die a happy man if I never heard puns as bad as the ones so frequently used in this film.
MartinHafer
I hadn't seen this since I was a kid back in the 1960s. I remember enjoying it and I decided to see it again for old times sake. Well, this is a great example of the phrase "you can't go back", as now I couldn't stand the film. It surprised me, as some other Rankin-Bass productions from my childhood STILL make me smile. Whenever "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" or "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" come on TV, I still watch and enjoy them--perhaps not quite as much as when I was little, but still quite a lot. Even the poor Rankin-Bass specials (you know, the lame-o ones no one ever liked) are better than this. I'd love to see "Rudolph's Shiny New Year" or "The Easter Bunny Is Comin' to Town " 100 times than see "Mad Monster Party" even once more!So what is it about this DVD release did I dislike? Well, first, unlike the wonderful voice talent for the best Rankin-Bass animated films, this one (aside from Boris Karloff) had voices that just seemed like cheap knockoffs of people such as Peter Lorre. Kids nowadays have no idea who Lorre was and adults will realize that it's a really crappy impersonation--as are most of the rest. The other problem is that the film is just boring and really irritating when it comes to the plot and dialog. Even kids now will probably be bored to tears by the thing...even if it does have monsters. And, since it is about double the length of a typical film by these folks, the time just seems to drag. By the end, I just wanted all the monsters and the Doctor's nephew to just go away...go away and die (permanently--after all, some were already dead).Tough to take and not nearly the quality of the better Rankin-Bass productions.
EvilSpaceApple
Self-consciously cute, sometimes funny and sometimes just forced and silly, decidedly overlong all-star creature feature in Animagic from Arthur Rankin and Jules Bass, the folks who brought us the most enjoyable "Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer" around the same time. "Mad Monster Party?" (I never got the use of the question mark at the end of the title) certainly has its moments, but after the first third or so, we've got the idea and aren't necessarily hankering after another hour's worth of more or less the same. Possibly the length of "MMP?"--that of the typical live-action feature--is part of the joke, but I doubt it. The cutest and funniest character is Francesca, the husky-voiced, scarlet-haired vamp who has the movie's best lines. Edited by about fifteen minutes, it could have quite possibly earned 7 or even 8 stars (since I tend to be generous with puppets as it is); the way it stands, it's more than a curiosity but short of a classic. By all means worth a look, especially if you love the Bumble from "Rudolf" or that special's deformed inhabitants of the Isle of Misfit Toys, but just don't bring a set of high expectations, or you'll bound to feel a bit of a let-down...the way I did.
