Customer Reviews

Mad Monster Party

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Please note that this review is for the "Special Edition" DVD of Mad Monster Party, and not the actual movie, which is an easy 5-star animation classic.

The bonus material consists of 3 featurettes - a "Making Of"; a "Music Of"; and a "Secrets Of Animagic". While it was enjoyable to see Arthur Rankin talking about the history of the film, I found it almost unforgivable that the two surviving stars (Phylis Diller and Gale Garnett) were not interviewed for this. Especially when footage of Phylis speaking about MMP already exists and only had to be purchased and tacked on. What's even worse is that Gale Garnett's name was not even mentioned, I kid you not! Every other person involved with the making of this movie was talked about except for the voice behind two songs in the film, and the most memorable character, Francesca. Apparently it was a legal issue, but one that should most definitely have been resolved.

Also included is the theatrical trailer which was present on the previous release but the TV spots and photo stills gallery which were on the original DVD were omitted from this one. This "Special Edition" has a better cover but the first DVD has much more attractive menus. If you are a Rankin/Bass fan, you will probably still want to pick up this new release (even if you already have the other one) but I do feel that more effort could have been put out to make this "Special Edition" more special.

"Mad Monster Party" is an early Rankin-Bass production, and it shows. While the stop-motion photography is a bit jerky in spots, it does not detract from the film but seems to make it that much more endearing. There are two famous voices in this film: Boris Karloff and Phyllis Diller. Karloff voices the old mad scientist who wants to retire, and Diller is the wife of the Monster, whom she calls, naturally, "Fang." When she learns that Dr. Frankenstein (Karloff) plans to will the whole shebang to his nephew Felix, she and the rest of the gang plot to kill Felix and get everything for themselves.
As I've noted, the motion is sometimes a bit jerky, but somehow that does not detract from the film in a bad way. The voicing is excellent, and even Boris gets to do a number, though he talks it more than sings it. Still, it's a great flick and I still love it as I did years ago.

Rankin/Bass, the makers of countless children's classics like RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER and FROSTY THE SNOWMAN, bring all of our favorite creatures together for a MAD MONSTER PARTY! Doctor Frankenstein assembles the ghouls for a secret meeting that will decide his successor as the leader of the Worldwide Organization of Monsters, but a power struggle pits Dracula, The Werewolf, The Creature, and many more against one another in a giant monster mash. Boris Karloff and Phyllis Diller lend their voices to Dr. Frankenstein and The Monster's Mate, while character actor Allen Swift plays each of the remaining spooks. No detail has been overlooked in this elaborate production, which is filled with incredibly ornate sets and clever redesigns for the monsters. The puppetry and stop-motion animation each live up to the company's high standards of excellence, and involve everything from dance numbers to an all-out brawl. Despite being made for children, MAD MONSTER PARTY also features many adult themes to please the parents. Monster fans can't miss this Halloween favorite!

-Carl Manes
I Like Horror Movies

This is by far one of the best classic films ive seen to date.
The way they did frame by frame animation is awsome...if your into
frankenstein,dracula,the mummy ect..this is a must pick up!

My son and I always have movie nite. I was sceptical at first this being a monster movie but both my son and I loved it. In fact I had to rent it again 2 days later due to the awful 24 hour restriction on it. Definitely a must see. Cannot understand how I never see this movie on tv during Halloween season. Kids would love it.

As a longtime Rankin-Bass fan, I stumbled across "Mad Monster Party" while browsing Amazon's site. I wondered why despite being in the approximately correct age demographic I had never heard of this. After all, weren't "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "Frosty the Snowman" among the most-loved Christmas specials on the planet? How could I have possibly have missed this Rankin-Bass creature feature with it's brilliant visuals and excellent vocal talents? I mean Boris Karloff and Phyllis Diller, what could be better than this?

Then I saw it. All 95 minutes of it. That's when I realized that despite the Rankin-Bass nameplate, despite the spectacular look of the film, despite the great voices, there was one thing inherently weak about the movie: the plot. In a movie of feature length, there needs to be a well-crafted plot to prevent the onset of boredom. In "Mad Monster Party", we have instead a series of dull gags interspersed with filler masquerading as a plot. Here is the plot in a nutshell: Dr. Frankenstein has decided to retire and cede his empire to his nephew Felix. A large cast of monsters attends the party at which he intends to unveil this news, and they plan ways to double cross each other and kill Felix. That's pretty much it, other than to say that the conclusion is equally bleak, nihilistic, and humorless, without revealing the actual plot resolution. In other words, this wasn't fun and wholesome enough to be a true children's classic like "Rudolph", but wasn't really suitable as adult fare either, mostly due to the terrible quality of the jokes, the even worse quality of the songs, and the plodding pacing between plotpoints. This should have really been a 30 minute television special, not a 95 minute feature.

I have a real soft spot for the Rankin-Bass team, but went back and forth about a rating on this one. I finally settled on three stars, as the visuals are outstanding and quirky, and the vocal characterizations (especially from Karloff) are wonderful. This is the only Rankin-Bass production that I have seen once and am content to never see again. Enjoy it for what it is, but don't expect it to be in the same league as their other justifiably better-known works.

Just watched the rough cuts and REALLY like what SPARKHILL did! GREAT editing and it makes you want to watch the film all over again! SCREEN NOVELTIES (Seamus and Mark) explain ANIMAGIC perfectly! MAURY LAWS gives some insight to his scoring in a seperate documentary about the soundtrack. Loved seeing ARTHUR RANKIN and DON DUGA talk about their parts and hearing ALLEN SWIFT do the voices again! You will not want to miss this 2009 edition! And now for 2011....I have my NEW book available on MAD MONSTER PARTY :)

Synopsis:

"Baron von Frankenstein (Boris Karloff) invites his allied monsters to his island lab, to announce his retirement and to appoint his successor, who will inherit his new, secret, destructive formula. They all show up. Only the Baron's shapely assistant Francesca (Gale Garnett) knows that mild-mannered soda jerk Felix Flankin will be the new leader of the Worldwide Organization of Monsters, and she conspires with Dracula to take him out of the picture, against opposition from The Bride of Frankenstein. But Felix and Francesca fall in love, just as the monsters close in on both of them, and King Kong appears from the haunted lagoon ..." by Glenn Erickson

There are few classic puppet animation films to shout about and this is one of them. Mad Monster Party is a classic 1967 Puppet animation Film by the masterful creators Rankin & Bass. Artist Jack Davies drawn creations was masterfully animated by Japanese firm, MOM Studios with director' Kizo Nagashima. This feature brings to life a great selection of classic Monsters from the silver screen, It(King Kong), The Invisible Man, The Werewolf, Dracula, The Mummy, Creature From he Black Lagoon, Frankenstein's Monster and Dr Frankin (voices by Boris Karloff, Allen Swift, Gale Garnett, Phyllis Diller)to name but a few.

This energetic musical packs a Killer soundtrack (Original Music Maury Laws)and a slap stick story of fun and adventure. A family fun film with lighthearted moments of enjoyment, an Oscar winner ? No. A great classic animated must watch movie ? YES

I purchased Mad Monster Party just before Halloween 2010. How fun it was to see it again. I bought an extra one for my sister and when she received it in the mail she could not stop laughing. We use to impersonate the characters when we were kids. Too fun.

I don't remember watching this as a kid but after finding it as an adult it is now one of my favorite puppetoon type shows.