History WesternAnimation / MonsterBeach

The movie follows siblings Jan and Dean, two young surfers spending their summer vacation on isolated Iki-Iki Island in the South Pacific, where their weird Uncle Woody lives. As they discover however, Woody is the only human inhabitant of Iki-Iki Island for a reason -- the place is populated by ''monsters''. Fortunately, these gruesome ghouls are actually a very pleasant (if quirky) lot and good friends of Uncle Woody. You see, Woody inherited the island's splendid beach from his late friend, a great king who gave him a magical necklace that doubles as the deed to the beach. However, the king's greedy, self-centered son, the western-educated lawyer and WitchDoctor Dr. Knutt, believed the beach to be rightfully his and cursed it in retaliation, transforming Woody's surfing buddies into monsters who now spend their days enjoying an endless summer beach party (with Woody himself protected from the curse by the king's necklace). While Jan and Dean try to make the most of their strange, new situation, trouble is afoot. Not only is Dr. Knutt (who was also transformed into a monster by the curse) still plotting to take over Monster Beach, but surfing resort tycoon Frances G. Butterfield III (and his beleaguered accountant Hodad) is on the lookout for new beachside hotel turf and believes he could make millions off Iki-Iki Island's monster gimmick. Can Jan and Dean make themselves at home among the lovably creepy inhabitants of Monster Beach ''and'' stop both Knutt and Butterfield from taking away this twisted little tropical paradise?

* RedOniBlueOni: The excitable, enthusiastic, and fun-loving Dean is the Red Oni to his aloof, reluctant, and sister Jan's Blue Oni.

* WitchDoctor: Dr. Knutt, as his title and tiki motif suggest. He was the wicked and ungrateful son of Iki-Iki Island's native chieftain, and transformed the local surfers into monsters in retaliation for the beach being given to Uncle Woody. Ironically however, he actually holds a doctorate in law, meaning he's also a doctor in the more traditional sense of the term.

* AdaptationPersonalityChange: The series versions of Jan and Dean are very different from their movie counterparts not just in appearance. In the movie, Jan was depicted as the aloof if bossy CoolBigSis, whereas Dean was the clumsy but enthusiastic AnnoyingYoungerSibling with dreams of becoming a great surfer. In the series, Jan is instead depicted as a chirpy GenkiGirl while Dean is a GadgeteerGenius computer nerd with absolutely no interest in surfing.

* AdaptationalNationality: The unnamed monster from the movie, renamed Stress Leave in the TV series (see CompositeCharacter below), is made Japanese in the TV series, complete with a thick accent and a tendency to speak in Japanese.

* AffectionateNickname: Jan often calls her brother Dean, "Deanosaur".

** Teddles, the trailer park monster, wasn't really a major character in the film, really only showing up for a few scenes and participating in some musical numbers, but his existence is pretty much never acknowledged in the TV series outside of a single episode.

* HarmlessVillain: Dr. Knutt is very proud of how evil he is and pretty mean towards his minions, but his actual evildoing and schemes against the inhabitants of Monster Beach are typically petty and ineffectual, not to mention his own incompetence frequently gets the better of him. If anything. he's mostly just obnoxious.

* MonsterMash: The basic premise of the movie is of two kids befriending an oddball gang of surfer monsters, many of whom fill in classic monster archetypes, such as werewolves, vampires, FrankensteinsMonster, killer robots, and FishPeople.

* TechnicolorFire: Unlike his Tiki {{Mooks}}, Dr. Knutt possesses an ever-burning pillar of green fire behind his mask that also functions as his eyes, emphasizing his supernatural qualities and status as a villain. In the TV series, it's actually temporarily extinguished a few times, causing him to lifelessly fall over until it reignites a few seconds later, which raises the possibility it might be his soul (Jan was even able to vacuum it up in "Boo Plate Special", and it remained alive and able to speak). On a more comedic note, Knutt is also prone to accidentally burning things with his flames.
* TentacleHair: Amphibia has a full octopus sitting on top her head as her hair. A photo of her when she was human reveals the octopus was formerly her dreadlocks.

* ValleyGirl: Widget talks like one.

** Both of the villains possess different dynamics with the eponymous beach and its inhabitants from the movie. In the movie, Butterfield and Dr. Knutt both desired to take over Monster Beach, the former seeking simply to profit off the monsters and the latter believing the beach to be rightfully theirs. In the series, Butterfield already owns the northern half of Iki-Iki Island, with his surfing resort acting as the more "normal" but snobbier counterpart to Monster Beach, while Dr. Knutt is more interested in simply antagonizing Jan and Dean on a more day-to-day basis and otherwise freely comes down to Monster Beach whenever he's not in the mood for villainy.

* AdaptationalNationality: The unnamed vampire from the movie, renamed Stress Leave in the TV series (see CompositeCharacter below), is given a Japanese accent in the TV series.

* AscendedExtra: Stress Leave. In the movie, he was an unnamed minor character who showed up in a few of the songs and several crowd shots but otherwise did not participate in the plot's events. In the TV series though, he's promoted to a member of the main group of monsters, even getting a few episodes with him as a major players and ultimately taking on the role (and name) Hodad's monster form like would have had in a more faithful adaptation of the film.

* CompanionCube: Teddles is very attached to his teddy bear, as seen in the episode "Teddles' Teddy", where he recruits Jan and Dean to help him get it back after accidentally giving it away at a swap meet.
* CompositeCharacter: In the movie, Stress Leave was the name the monsters gave Hodad after he was transformed into a monster by Dr. Knutt's magic staff. In the series, Hodad is still human, and the name of his monster alter ego is instead given to the unnamed vampire who appeared in the movie as a minor character.

* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Dr. Knutt is sometimes depicted as this to the rest of Monster Beach. Whereas his movie self chose to live in exile on Iki-Iki Island's volcano and schemed to take Monster Beach from Uncle Woody, his series counterpart is more likely to come down to Monster Beach and join the denizens in their regular shenanigans, even despite the fact they often find him annoying and know of his self-styled villainy.
* FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire: Stress Leave, a neurotic workaholic vampire clearly in desperate need of a vacation, is about as far as you can get from being a bloodthirsty dark prince of the night!

* {{Mummy}}: An unnamed individual appears from time to time. Unlike all the other monsters seen at Monster Beach, he's original to the TV series and did not have a movie counterpart.

* {{Salaryman}}: Stress Leave the vampire seems to be one, an overworked accountant and paper pusher who speaks with a strong Japanese accent.

* BigBadEnsemble: The movie has two antagonists, those being Butterfield and Dr. Knutt, both of whom want the deed to Monster Beach, albeit for different reasons.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Frances G. Butterfield III. Owner of the popular surfing resort chain Butterfield's Surf City, he's all too happy to take over Iki-Iki Island
* CuteMonsterGirl: Some of the female monsters qualify, such as Amphibia and Widget

* TheDitz: Brainfreeze, as his name suggests, doesn't exactly have his mind pumping on all cylinders all the time.

* AdaptationBackstoryChange: In the movie, The Mutt is seen being transformed from a human as a result of Dr. Knutt's curse in Uncle Woody's flashback explaining the origins of Monster Beach (and a brief cameo in Woody's home from a photo of the Monster Beach denizens pre-transformation), making it evident he, like the other residents of the beach, WasOnceAMan. In the series, The Mutt is instead the transformed pet dog of Brainfreeze.
* AdaptationDeviation: In the movie, Maurice was a hunchbacked TinyHeadedBehemoth able to remove his head at will, but in the TV series, he's changed to a headless monster named Headache who instead wears his shrunken head as a necklace.

* AdaptationalModesty: In the movie, Jan's swimsuit consisted of a tank top and bikini shorts, but in the series, she instead wears a surfing wetsuit.

* AlternateContinuity: The series appears to be one in relation to the movie.

* ArtShift: Flashbacks and imaginations sequences in the show switch out the thick-line style of the show for a blocky, monochrome cutout style identical to that seen in the series intro.

* BandEpisode: The episode "Euro So Talented" sees Widget, The Mutt, Brainfreeze, and Dr. Knutt form a band called Monster Metal Doom Party when they accidentally end up auditioning for Eurovision, erm, [[BlandNameProduct Euro So Talented]]. Jan and Dean tag along as their band managers, but quickly find managing the gang to be pretty challenging.

The movie follows two siblings named Jan (the older sister) and Dean (the younger brother), who are spending their summer vacation on isolated Iki-Iki Island in the South Pacific, where their weird Uncle Woody lives. As they discover however, Woody is the only human inhabitant of Iki-Iki Island for a reason - the place is populated by ''monsters''. Fortunately, it turns out these gruesome ghouls are actually very pleasant folks, friends of Uncle Woody, in fact. You see, Uncle Woody inherited island's splendid beach from its former king, who gave him a magical necklace that doubles as the deed to the beach. However, the king's jealous, rotten son Dr. Knutt cursed the beach to get it back, transforming Woody's beachgoing pals into monsters who now spend their days surfing and sunning (with Woody himself protected from the curse by the king's necklace). While Jan and Dean try to make the most of their strange, new situation, trouble is afoot. Not only is Dr. Knutt (who has also been transformed into a monster by the curse) still plotting to get the deed to Monster Beach, but surf resort tycoon Frances G. Butterfield III (and his beleaguered accountant Hodad) is on the lookout for new beach hotel turf and believe he could make millions off Iki-Iki Island's monster gimmick. Can Jan and Dean make themselves at home among the lovably creepy inhabitants of Monster Beach ''and'' stop both Knutt and Butterfield from taking away this twisted little tropical paradise?

The movie made its debut in 2014 as a HalloweenSpecial. In 2017 however, it was announced that CN Asia-Pacific had greenlit a full-blown animated TV series based on the film. Said production made its debut in 2020, featuring much of the same cast as the TV movie and still under the production of BES Animation. However, the show did make some changes to its visuals, updating the artstyle and redesigning Jan and Dean (although everybody else is more or less the same). It's also important to note the series is an AlternateContinuity to the movie, with many of the movie's events and key traits of the characters being altered or contradicted by the TV show, on top of also adopting a much wackier, more heavily gag-focused tone. Said series proceeded to run for 48 eleven-minute episodes.

* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Dean sometimes acts like this to Jan.

* AdaptationPersonalityChange: The series versions of Jan and Dean are very different from their movie counterparts not just in appearance. In the movie, Jan was depicted as the aloof if bossy CoolBigSis, whereas Dean was the clumsy but good-natured AnnoyingYoungerSibling with dreams of becoming a great surfer. In the series, Jan is instead depicted as a chirpy GenkiGirl while Dean is a GadgeteerGenius computer nerd with absolutely no interest in surfing.

The movie made its debut in 2014 as a HalloweenSpecial. In 2017 however, it was announced that CN Asia-Pacific had greenlit a full-blown animated TV series based on the film. Said production made its debut in 2020, featuring much of the same cast as the TV movie and still under the production of BES Animation. However, the show did make some changes to its visuals, updating the artstyle and redesigning Jan and Dean (although everybody else is more or less the same). It's also important to note the series is an AlternateContinuity to the movie, with several of the movie's events and plot points being directly contradicted by the TV show, on top of also adopting a much wackier, more heavily gag-focused tone. Said series proceeded to run for 48 eleven-minute episodes.

* OnlySaneMan: Carrying over their FishOutOfWater status from the movie, Jan and Dean are easily the most rational and normal of the inhabitants of Monster Beach, often having to mind the wacky antics of the monsters.

The movie made its debut in 2014 as a HalloweenSpecial. In 2017 however, it was announced that CN Asia-Pacific had greenlit a full-blown animated TV series based on the film. Said production made its debut in 2020, featuring much of the same cast as the TV movie and still under the production of BES Animation. However, the show did make some changes to its visuals, updating the artstyle and redesigning Jan and Dean (although everybody else is more or less the same). It's also important to note the series is an AlternateContinuity to the movie, with several of the movie's events and plot points being directly contradicted by the TV show. Said series proceeded to run for 48 eleven-minute episodes.

* VillainTeamup: Butterfield and Dr. Knutt form an alliance to get the deed to Monster Beach. [[spoiler:It ultimately proves short-lived, as Butterfield ends up betraying Dr. Knutt.]]

%%* HelpingHands: In one episode, Widget's hand leaves her arm and starts to make trouble to her friends.

* CuteMonsterGirl: Some of the female monsters qualify, such as Amphibia and Widget.
* EyesOutOfSight: Brainfreeze's eyes are permanently covered up by hair. He even lampshades this, remarking he can barely see past his own hair.

* DrillSergeantNasty: Lost Patrol, a military robot who works as Monster Beach's lifeguard, behaves like this.

* FrankensteinsMonster: Widget is a CuteMonsterGirl surfer version, a bikini-clad beach girl of stitched-together body parts that she often takes apart to accomplish tasks.
* GentleGiant: Teddles is a hulking reptilian horror who runs the local trailer park where the monsters all live, but he's also a very friendly and childlike simpleton who just simply loves having fun as much as the other monsters do (even if he can be a bit exasperating).

''Monster Beach'' is a 2014 Australian animated MadeForTVMovie produced by BES Animation for Creator/CartoonNetwork's Asia-Pacific feed. The brainchild of Patrick Crawley, as well as Bruce Kane and Maurice Argiro (also known for ''WesternAnimation/KittyIsNotACat''), it is the ''second'' Australian-produced animated original made for Cartoon Network, following 2012's ''WesternAnimation/ExchangeStudentZero'' (which was created by the same people and also produced at BES Animation).

The movie follows two siblings named Jan (the older sister) and Dean (the younger brother), who are spending their summer vacation on isolated Iki-Iki Island in the South Pacific, where their weird Uncle Woody lives. As they discover however, Woody is the only human inhabitant of Iki-Iki Island for a reason - the place is populated by ''monsters''. Fortunately, it turns out these gruesome ghouls are actually very pleasant folks, friends of Uncle Woody, in fact. You see, Uncle Woody inherited island's splendid beach from its former king, who gave him a magical necklace that doubles as the deed to the beach. However, the king's jealous, rotten son Dr. Knutt cursed the beach to get it back, transforming Woody's beachgoing pals into monsters who now spend their days surfing and sunning. While Jan and Dean try to make the most of their strange, new situation, trouble is afoot. Not only is Dr. Knutt (who has been transformed into a monster as well) still plotting to get the deed to Monster Beach, but surf resort tycoon Frances G. Butterfield III (and his beleaguered accountant Hodad) are on the lookout for new beach resort turf and believe they could make millions off Iki-Iki Island's monster gimmick. Can Jan and Dean make themselves at home among the lovably creepy inhabitants of Monster Beach ''and'' stop both Knutt and Butterfield from taking away this twisted little tropical paradise?

* FishPeople: Amphibia is a Creature from the Black Lagoon-based CuteMonsterGirl surfer with a French accent and an octopus in place of hair.

* TentacleHair: Amphibia has a full octopus sitting on top her head as her hair.

* WasOnceAMan: The inhabitants of Monster Beach used to be humans until Dr. Knutt transformed them into monsters with his magic. Dr. Knutt was also transformed by this spell, however, causing him to go into self-imposed exile. Uncle Woody escaped, thanks to the protection of the magic amulet Dr. Knutt's father gave him. [[spoiler:Hodad gets transformed into a monster as well at the end of the movie, being rechristened Stress Leave by the others.]]

* WitchDoctor: Dr. Knutt, as his title and tiki motif suggest. He was the wicked and ungrateful son of Iki-Iki Island's native chieftain, and transformed the local surfers into monsters in retaliation for the beach being given to Uncle Woody. Ironically however, he was actually educated in London, meaning he's also a doctor in the other sense of the term.

* AdaptationBackstoryChange: In the movie, The Mutt is seen being transformed from a human as a result of Dr. Knutt's curse in Uncle Woody's flashback explaining the origins of Monster Beach, making it evident he, like the other residents of the beach, WasOnceAMan. In the series, The Mutt is instead the transformed pet dog of Brainfreeze.

* AdaptationPersonalityChange: The series versions of Jan and Dean are very different from their movie counterparts not just in appearance. In the movie, Jan was depicted as the aloof CoolBigSis, whereas Dean was the clumsy AnnoyingYoungerSibling with dreams of becoming a great surfer. In the series, Jan is instead depicted as a chirpy GenkiGirl while Dean is a GadgeteerGenius computer nerd with absolutely no interest in surfing.

* OurOgresAreHungrier: While what kind of monster he is isn't identified in the movie, the episode "Doommates" implies Brainfreeze to be an ogre. In this case, he's a large, red-skinned humanoid with very large feet and eyes that are permanently concealed behind his hair. Not particularly bright, but very chill and a nice dude all around.

** Maurice entirely speaks in deep roars. They pretty much sum up his usual mood and attitude though.

* AdaptationRelationshipOverhaul: Both of the villains possess different dynamics with the eponymous beach and its inhabitants from the movie. In the movie, Butterfield and Dr. Knutt both desired to take over Monster Beach, the former seeking simply to profit off the monsters and the latter believing the beach to be rightfully theirs. In the series, Butterfield already owns the northern half of Iki-Iki Island, with his surfing resort acting as the more "normal" but snobbier counterpart to Monster Beach, while Dr. Knutt is more interested in simply antagonizing Jan and Dean on a more day-to-day basis and otherwise freely comes down to Monster Beach whenever he's not in the mood for villainy.

* HarmlessVillain: Dr. Knutt is very proud of how evil he is and pretty mean towards his minions, but his actual evildoing and his schemes against the inhabitants of Monster Beach are typically petty and ineffectual, not to mention his own incompetence frequently gets the better of him. If anything. he's mostly just obnoxious.

* AdaptationPersonalityChange: The series versions of Jan and Dean are very different from their movie counterparts not just in appearance. In the movie, Jan was depicted as the aloof CoolBigSis, whereas Dean was the clumsy AnnoyingYoungerSibling with dreams of becoming a great surfer. In the series, Jan is instead depicted as a chirpy GenkiGirl while Dean is TheSmartGuy with no interest in surfing, period.

* AdaptedOut:
** The deed to the beach that Uncle Woody carried with him around in the movie is wholly absent in the series. In fact, in the TV series, Butterfield already owns a part of Iki-Iki Island, while Dr. Knutt comes down whenever he feels like it, meaning the need for it to appear in the series is largely pointless.
** Teddles, the monster who runs the trailer park where the inhabitants of Monster Beach (except Uncle Woody) live, makes no appearances in the TV series. This might be due to the fact the TV series has the monsters living in different abodes around the beach rather than all at a trailer park.

* BadBoss: Dr. Knutt wasn't exactly pleasnt to his Tikis in the movie, but he's even worse in the series. This forms the plot of the episode "Striking Bad", where the Tikis finally get fed up with his mistreatment and abandon him to hang with the inhabitants of Monster Beach.

* DecompositeCharacter: In the movie, Stress Leave was the name the monsters gave Hodad after he was transformed into a monster by Dr. Knutt's magic staff. In the series, Hodad is still human, and the name of his monster alter ego is instead given to the unnamed vampire who appeared in the movie as a minor character.