Daydream Believers: The Monkees' Story (2000)

Stylish but barely mediocre overall

People are voting emotionally.

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Any long time Monkees fan would have no trouble ripping this movie to shreds. There is a barrel full of inaccuracies in this bio-epic. But given the time factor, what do you expect? This movie was based on a true story. Time restraints resulted in certain characters being substituted by a combination of 2 or 3 individuals being rolled into one. I was puzzled over Micky wearing his hair naturally (curly) when every Monkees fan would point out and remind you that Micky's hair was worn straight (with the help of hair straightener) and that he didn't wear it natural until Season Two of THE MONKEES (1967-1968).That, being stated, I must admit that I really enjoyed this movie. The actors who portrayed the Monkees did an excellent job. The resemblance was amazing. If Webster was to come up with a picture dictionary and needed a picture for the word "groovy", an ideal choice would be a picture of the Monkees.For those of us who remember the Monkees, this movie is a perfect reminder of how that wonderfully groovy group from 1966 gave the Beatles a little bit of competition. Actually, they didn't really compete with the Beatles, except in the minds and imaginations of many young teens (and pre-teens). While they were praised by John Lennon who saw them as the rock and roll version of the Marx Brothers, those of us who remember the group would have to consider the Monkees more like "the Rodney Dangerfield" of 1960s rock and roll, loved by many, but they "didn't get no respect."The Monkees gave us some really great music and contrary to popular belief, the Monkees could and did play their own instruments. Their live concert performances were proof of their musical abilities. They also wrote and directed a lot of really great material.Their album, HEADQUARTERS was a classic, released shortly after the Beatles' SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND album. Back to the movie, "Daydream Believers" is an ideal way to introduce the current generation to the music and the excitement that this group generated between 1966 and 1968.Though the Monkees soldiered on after Peter quit and even stuck together after Mike jumped ship around 1970 (the joke that lingered between Davy and Micky was that when the next one quits, the remaining member would be known as "the Monkey"), the Monkees never enjoyed the fame they enjoyed when their TV show was on. Each new release simply peaked lower and lower on the charts until they couldn't even dent the charts.The movie, despite its many faults, was an excellent portrayal of the Monkees, both the rise and fall of this underrated and talented bunch of guys from the West Coast, the East Coast, Texas and England. Groovy, man. Enjoy.

This film makes no secret of its historical inaccuracies, shamelessly combining Rafelson and Schneider into a single character and simplifying the actual events for a barely-scratches-the-surface narrative, but it achieves its objective of amplifying a core message: that all The Monkees wanted and worked for was respect. And this film documents - albeit with loose accuracy - that the respect they craved was in fact deserved.Geddis and Fisher give excellent performances as perfectionist Michael Nesmith and clown-playing spiritualist and intellectual Peter Tork respectively. Whilst Lohr tries hard, he doesn't quite nail Micky Dolenz's unmistakable energy. Stanchev, however, is badly miscast and captures neither the physical resemblance, the British accent or the unique character of Davy Jones.The film, too is cluttered with unnecessary material: the opening scene designed to bring the story into the present wasn't required, and instead belittles the value of the Monkey's story in its 1960s setting. It's cheesy ending, too, discredits its achievements.Whilst it would have made a more exciting viewing to see a reveal-all account of the events and gritty character flaws, the film instead gives us a glossed-over, simplified but nonetheless important glimpse into Monkeemania, the commercial entrapment of its four hostages and their struggle to maintain themselves at its height, therefore excusing its errors and omissions.

Daydream Believers: The Monkees' Story is a big disappointment because the story of The Monkees has such great potential and could have made for a great film. This unfortunately, is not a great film. In a way, the project was doomed from the get-go simply for being a made-for-TV movie. The Monkees story isn't one that can be told in a PG-rated way, and unfortunately those were the standards that had to be met.First off, the casting seemed to make the unfortunate decision of choosing the four lead actors who portray the Monkees, more for their physical appearances than anything else. All four actors resemble their Monkey counterparts fairly well, but their performances were all over-the-top and leaned dangerously into the areas of caricature. Micky was "the zany one", Mike "the controlling one", Peter "the zen one" and Davy "the easy-going one". The reduction of The Monkees to these one-dimensional characters makes the main characters difficult to relate to, and hard to believe. It would have been much nicer to see all four portrayed as fully fleshed out human-beings. The actor who plays Peter was probably the best in my opinion, while the actor who played Davy did at least seem to take some time to get Davy Jones's mannerisms down fairly well, most especially when playing the tambourine. All in all though, it was difficult to see them as The Monkees and not as four actors doing poor imitations of The Monkees. Aaron Lohr's "Micky Dolenz doing James Cagney" was particularly cringe-worthy.Also a great deal of screen-time was wasted with this film by recreating full music videos or scenes from the show. This wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, but accuracy was not taken into account when filming these recreations. They appeared to try to make the "Daydream Believer" video fairly close to the original in terms of choreography, but goofed on the wardrobe by outfitting the boys in the clothing worn in the "Star Collector" video. They also attempted to recreate the Monkees opening sequence, but mixed up scenes from the first season opener with the second season opener. Since these bits took up a good portion of the film, you think they'd have taken the care to at least recreate them accurately.Many of the more scandalous bits of Monkey history (Michael Nesmith's affair and the resulting illegitimate child, most notably) were left out entirely to paint a much cleaner picture than what existed in reality. In addition, many facts were fudged, changed, or outright left out in order to make this film more of a happy-go-lucky affair than the real tell-all expose that it could have been.All-in-all, it's a shame that the first attempt at bringing the lives of The Monkees to the screen resulted in such a mediocre piece. Hopefully someday a bigger studio, with more funds and more time, can do justice in telling the real story of the Pre-fab Four we know and love.

I find the movie "Daydream Believers" quite enjoyable. The attenton to detail and using the original songs of The Monkees really puts a very delightful touch to the film. However, some of the performances have plenty to be desired--George Stanchev(Davy Jones) and Jeff Geddis(Mike Nesmith), to be specific. I don't know why, but their performances seemed a bit stiff when I saw them; It was almost as if they're trying too hard to become their characters. On contrast, L.B. Fisher plays a very convincing (and very intelligent)Peter Tork by simply going with the flow. Aaron Lohr (Micky Dolenz) is the obvious standout in the film. He plays the role with such kinetic energy it's impossible not to notice him. Hollywood should take notice of Lohr "poste haste".