Daydream Believers: The Monkees' Story
Daydream Believers: The Monkees' Story
| 28 June 2000 (USA)
Daydream Believers: The Monkees' Story Trailers

The story of the 60s pop group The Monkees, as they rise above their status as a band created for a TV show, to establishing their legacy in their own right. The band faces many obstacles, among them the right to play their own instruments on record.

Reviews
Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.
Sabah Hensley This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama
Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.
Kinley This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows
oscar-35 *Spoiler/plot- Daydream Belivers: The Monkees, 2000. Four struggling actors/musicians in Hollywood get the break they wanted and become a fan generation's center of attention through a comedy TV show, several records, excellent management, and their music in the 60's.*Special Stars- George Stanchev, L.B. Fisher, Jeff Geddis, Aaron Lohr.*Theme- Knowing and being true to yourself is often difficult.*Trivia/location/goofs- TV narrative movie (not a documentary), Filmed in Toronto, Canada. A tribute film. The hair styles and costumes of the lead actors are not correct or consistent in this film. The beach scenes are ironically not shot in California, but Canada.*Emotion- An uncanny look-alike portrayal of The Monkees band members through their rise to fame and fall. This film is mediocre at best due to it's unsurprising script plot elements.
Little-Mikey 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.
Libretio DAYDREAM BELIEVERS: THE MONKEES' STORY Aspect ratio: 1.33:1Sound format: StereoThe rise and fall of a manufactured pop group - America's answer to The Beatles - who struggled to be taken seriously as bona fide musicians.Appropriately for a band as airbrushed and stage-managed as The Monkees, Neill Fearnley's entertaining biopic is equally airbrushed and stage-managed, dispensing with unpleasant reality (for the most part) in favor of feel-good party tricks. Ron McGee's innocuous teleplay (based on Harold Bronson's book 'Hey Hey We're the Monkees') sketches the group's history in broad narrative strokes, from the audition which brought Davy (George Stanchev), Micky (Aaron Lohr), Peter (L.B.Fisher) and Mike (Jeff Geddis) together, to the international success of their madcap TV show (used as little more than a marketing tool) and their subsequent disillusionment, sparked by management's refusal to allow them greater creative input. Events are depicted in pastel shades, rather like the TV show, but without the laughs. Peter is shown smoking pot, and the guys' bickering descends into chaos as the band falls apart (they disbanded in 1970), but the script refuses to take risks, which means viewers are short-changed by a lack of historical accuracy: For example, there's no mention of the resentment caused when Peter Tork became the first to jump ship in 1969, only a bittersweet ending which barely mentions their break-up at all.Fans will be astonished by the physical resemblance of the actors to their real-life counterparts (except for Lohr, whose similarity to Micky Dolenz is superficial at best), and their impersonations are equally remarkable, especially during the lengthy musical interludes (including a meticulous recreation of the famous 'Daydream Believer' promo, and the opening montage of the TV show), all realized with startling accuracy. If nothing else, however, "Daydream Believers..." reminds us that The Monkees produced some of the most enduring pop songs of the 1960's (including 'Last Train to Clarksville', 'I'm a Believer' and the excellent 'All of Your Toys'), reproduced here in their entirety (the actors mime to original recordings). Devotees will either be outraged or enthralled.NB. 'Jack Nicholson' and 'John Lennon' turn up in brief cameos, both played by uncredited actors.
Ivanhoe As a movie, <i>Daydream Believers</i> seemed rather hastily put together, especially in terms of the script.  This is, perhaps, not the most informative or accurate bit you'll ever see about the Monkees.  However, the movie succeeds in telling a good story and championing the Monkees for their talent as entertainers <i>and</i> as musicians, as well as explaining with clarity some of the things about the Monkees that are commonly misunderstood.  It receives bonus points for very good casting, and for prominently featuring “All of Your Toys,” one of the Monkees’ great “lost” songs (and among the first the Monkees recorded together as a real band).Where the movie is good, the DVD is great—not for any spectacular audio/video presentation, but in the extras.  Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork each have their own commentary tracks, on which they discuss various points on Monkee history from their own points-of-view.  These are very revealing and informative, and bless the movie for providing the platform for the Monkees to comment on the types of things that never come up in interviews.  But if you want interviews, the DVD also delivers rather lengthy ones by the three participating Monkees.  New Concorde should be commended for getting Monkee participation on this disc.  It transformed a somewhat inconsequential (albeit entertaining) movie into something really worthwhile.