Monkeybone (voiced by John Turturro) is a cartoon character created by a popular comic book illustrator named Stu Miley (Fraser).

He wears a coat with the label S Miley, which is a good example of the movie's brand of pun-orientated humour.

Life couldn't be better for Stu after his cartoon creation, a petulant rascal with a penchant for wise cracks and racy antics, is set to become the star of a new TV show.

He is also happy and in love with his beautiful girlfriend Julie (Fonda), whom he plans to marry.

But on the night Stu is to propose, he is struck down in a freak accident.

Lying in a coma - with Julie by his side - his conscious spirit is transported to Downtown, a surreal kind of amusement park, which exists in a plain between life and death.

Downtown has a carnival landscape populated by mythical gods and creatures who revel in the nightmares of the living.

Here, Stu comes face to face with a living version of his alter-ego - the small, mischievous Monkeybone - who springs to life to stir up some trouble.

Stu tries to outwit Death (Goldberg - clearly having fun) and return to the world of the living before the doctors pull the plug on his body.

But Monkeybone has ideas of his own and he hatches a plot that could ruin Stu's plans forever.

Dominic Bloch