Customer Reviews

Monster House (Widescreen Edition)

5 star:		(85)
4 star:		(59)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I just saw this film today (after missing out on a sold out sneak preview last weekend) and the increased level of expectation was met with one of the most rewarding moviegoing experiences I've had in the last five years. Monster House gives us one doozy of a spooky antagonist, a decrepit domicile of living malice that gobbles errant toys and passerby with equal ingenuity and viciousness.

The house is plain old MEAN, and for really small children perhaps a little too scary to take in a gigantic room filled with strangers and darkness. But for those of us who are too grown up for a nighlight this is perfect, creepy entertainment.

The same motion capture technology used to create The Polar Express (a film which I have still yet to see) is a very interesting and appropriate choice for this film, where the only truly fantastic element is the demented house that will not suffer trespassers. It works so well because the eerie realism that depicts the characters is so starkly contrasted with the insanity that ultimately drives the Monster House to be, well, so monstrous.

Now I fully expected to be entertained by the antics of the house, but I didn't expect there to be much of a story. Again I was pleasantly surprised by what I think is a script that I believe is just as worthy of an Oscar nomination as the script for The Incredibles was. There is, beneath the floorboards of this film, more heart than horror. A tale of love, retribution, acceptance, forgiveness, and ultimately letting go.

Monster House is, beyond a doubt, one of the coolest Horror movies for kids ever made. A Halloween tradition in the making that dares to answer that age old question: Can a house be haunted?

The answer is a resounding yes with a disquieting post script.

Whatever is haunted may also be hungry!

Monster House uses the same motion-capture technology as Zemeckis' Polar Express but takes it to the next level. This time around, the whole context of the movie will appeal to a wider audience so this is a great opportunity to display the possibilities that this all digital technology offers.

Beyond the technical achievement, Monsterhouse is an excellent surprise for its family-oriented audience. Unlike Dreamworks and their Shrek-ish, below-the-belt, cynically adult-oriented features, this movie aims at both the kids and grown-ups in a way that tends to unite them around its subject, rather than addressing the two categories separately and alternatively.

To kids, this will be their first experience of an actual horror flick: the house IS seriously haunted and this is definitly no Casper-like curse. Lives are at stake here and the line between good and evil is not so strictly defined.
Some aspects of the plot have a very macabre touch, still a bittersweet feeling comes in balance towards the end.
A real implication is required from the kids, especially because a few thrills awaits them once the house has awaken.

On the parents' side, besides the fact that for those like me who grew up with the Amblin productions of the eighties (The Goonies, The Gremlins and co), you are in for a great back-to-the-future nostalgic trip. Not only because the action takes place in the 80's (various hints lead to believe it)but because the whole atmosphere, the characters, the humour will either make you wish you could still be 5 to 10 years old to fully dive into this nightmarish story, or simply will make you forget you've grown older and make you actually feel like you're a kid again.

So thank you Mr Zemeckis and Mr Spielberg for producing this little gem, which, though it draws its inspiration from a classic tradition of haunted mansion archetypes, never fails to find its own identity and energy.

In a nutshell: great style and screenplay, technically impressive and very concerned about offering a satisfying show to the audience.

As studio execs continue to milk the cash cow that is the CG animated feature, MONSTER HOUSE is refreshing on two fronts; firstly, we see a departure from cutesy animals/toys in peril, and secondly, it's good!

I would imagine that fellow kids-at-heart who grew up in the eighties with INDIANA JONES and THE GOONIES will feel right at home with D.J., Chowder, and Penny; all characters we've met and identified with before in other movies. The focus is on story and character interaction, and thankfully there's a complete lack of "Gee! Look what we can do with computer graphics!" We're not subjected to nauseating shaky-cam and rapid cuts of other recent kid flicks - this movie looks beautiful, and the animators allow you to appreciate it. Not surprisingly, the most interesting characters are Nebbercracker and The House. There's a good story here, ultimately with unexpected warmth and heart.

Is it aimed at the right age group? That's debatable. More sensitive kids may find it too scary. It's loud at times, there's a few in-your-face frights, and the tension builds quickly. Beyond the genre setting, there are a number of more mature themes present which parents should be aware of, notably alcohol usage and sexual themes when the babysitter and her boyfriend are on-screen. I could knock off a star for these points given the target audience, but they didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the movie.

I highly recommend MONSTER HOUSE to animation lovers, big kids at heart, and little kids with a big kid to hide behind.

Sounds a bit overblown, but hear's the breakdown;

-So many reviews tout this as "for kids" and "adults can tolerate it" and "Childish humor".
-Based on these reviews, I took my family to the theater to see "Monster House".
-Much of the story and humor went flying over my kids heads.
-When one of the characters graffically FRENCH KISSES a stuffed bunny rabbit toy, my wife and I were mortified. You see, we have a 4 and 8 year old who were not scared of the movie. But, at this point, my wife and I were.
-Said FRENCH KISSER also guzzles a BEER and GROPES the baby sitter in a DRUNKEN stupor.
-PUBERTY is a prominent theme of the story. Nothing wrong with that, but hardly a subject for young kids movies.

Why the "sexual" aspects of the film are even there, I don't know. They contributed little (or Nothing) to the plot. If taken out, the story becomes no less complete or understandable.

Now, I'm sure all of this sure sounds like freeked-out "Moral Policing". However, what it actually is, is concerned parrenting. Had I been given those little details mentioned above, I may have passed on taking my kids to this film. So I write this review to fill that void which other reviewer failed to do.

Personally, I thought this was such a great film on so many levels. Excellent character development, interesting story, very cool animation. I think some of the negative reviewers here completely don't get this film.

My kids left the film happy and satisfied. They were scared at parts (they're supposed to be) but thoroughly enjoyed it. They actually slept like babies through the night (which rarely happens when we don't see a "scary" movie).

But, to say it is targeted towards kids is not 100% true.

Hope this helps other parents out there.


UPDATE

I received the DVD as a Christmas gift and watched it with my kids (the first part of this review is from the thaeatrical release). I strategically skipped the scene with the boy friend french kissing the toy and groping the babysitter. No one noticed. this reinforced my point that it was useless character development time and contributed nothing to the story. After a second viewing I'd still say this is a really good movie. My 4 year old does not like it though. Too scary. He goes and plays in his room.

Extras are good. Nice to see the voice actors and how the film was executed. Just remember, when the boyfriend picks up the stuffed bunny, hit the "skip forward" button. Then your kids can watch a good, scary movie without sexual content.

Update #2:
My 4 year old is now 5. This is his favorite Halloween movie now. When we go on long trips, this is his DVD of choice to watch in the car. I Still don't like Bones though.

I guess you could label this an "edgy animated film." It's certainly wasn't made with little kids in mind. If it was, that was a mistake because this a pretty scary film in parts - much too much for the little ones.

The "edginess" isn't just the violence (a Halloween-type scary house and the comes alive and attacks people), it's most of the characters. They are typical Hollywood-young people meaning they have "attitudues." They aren't exactly sweet, lovable people, except for the one young boy "D.J." (voiced by Mitchel Musso). The dialog on the kids - two boys, the babysitter and her boyfriend - make this more of a film for teens and younger adults. The "attitude" means wise-remarks and general obnoxiousness and rebellious attitudes. The worst in that attitude category is D.J.'s friend "Chowder," the kind of guy who talks you into doing thing that wind up getting YOU in trouble.

The best part of the film, besides the animation, is the unpredictability of the story. You kept wondering what was going to happen next. That made the 91 minutes go by pretty fast. It's a simple story but very entertaining despite the not-so-great-role models and, as most pictures do, has a good message and a few heartwarming scenes at the end.

Monster House, like all well done computer generated features, is very pleasing to look at. Colors are vibrant, depth is strong, and the animation is very life like. Many of the visual effects, particularly towards the end, go straight to that part of the brain which first wanted to upgrade your TV to high definition. But I do feel Monster House stops short of receiving a perfect score, not because of the transfer, but because of the artificial grain filter which the film makers applied. It wasn't obtrusive but it did detract, ever so slightly, from the clarity of the image. Not once did it create the effect of 'Wow, was this shot on film?' but rather 'When are they going to do something about mpeg's dancing dither.' A score of 4.5

(PS3 - 1080p projector - 92")

My daughter enjoyed this movie. This movie wasn't very 'funny' as most animated features are but was border-line scary (no, not scary for me, but maybe scary for a kid). My daughter knows that a house can't come to life but our neighbor's kid (who aren't allowed to watch Scooby-Doo because of the ghosts, witches, monsters, etc...) couldn't watch it. So, parents, if your child is easily scared, this may not be the best movie to get but if your child is a thrill seeker like mine, the movie may result in a spook or two. Notice that the movie is rated PG and not G. I am rating it with four stars because I was hoping it would be a little funnier.

"Monster House" may be one of the most effective haunted house movies I've ever seen. The fact that it's a family oriented CGI film doesn't affect its credibility as an entertaining story. If anything, it made the idea even better because it didn't have to rely to adult oriented methods like sex, language, and gore to get the point across. Instead, it relies on a solid story, good characterizations, and an attention to detail. That's a rare combination in movies these days, most of which are nothing more than remakes. It was so nice to see an original story again, especially since it involved a house that could literally morph into a living, breathing eating machine. This is but one of many examples of the film's morbid yet intelligent sense of humor, a quality perfectly suited for a story with adolescent characters.

It's also an incredibly fun movie, filled with moments of comedy, suspense, and action. Of course, the breathtaking animation helps a great deal, every shot being a stylistic reinterpretation of the real world. This film relies on the motion capture technique of animation, using real actors to perform the movements of the digital characters. It was the same technique used for "The Polar Express," and in both cases, it gave the characters a distinct feel that I couldn't quite put my finger on; it was as if they were that much closer to being alive, despite their stylized physical appearances. For "Monster House," the characters reminded me of old-fashioned hand drawings that have finally been released from the mechanical prison of traditional cel animation. They looked cartoonish but felt much more organic. I can only say that watching them was a fascinating experience.

But just as fascinating was the new twist on the classic Don't Enter a Strange Place Alone fable that all children have instilled in their heads by the time they turn three. The owner of the haunted house is Mr. Nebbercracker (Steve Buscemi); a seemingly mean spirited old man who goes into fits of rage whenever anyone steps on his lawn. We see this right at the beginning when a young girl accidentally gets stuck in the lawn while riding her tricycle. Nebbercracker runs out of the house and screams at the poor child, after which he breaks her tricycle and scares her off with even more screaming. The fable-like quality of that scene very obviously comes through; in real life, there always seems to be one house in the neighborhood that parents warn their children to stay away from.

I find it really interesting that parents would say such things to their children, considering a child's belief in a fantastic or strange event is almost never taken seriously. The children of "Monster House" are almost like the Baudelaire siblings of the "A Series of Unfortunate Events" books: they live in a world where adults are unable and/or unwilling to believe a word they say. DJ (Mitchel Musso), his best friend, Chowder (Sam Lerner), and Jenny (Spencer Locke) can't convince anyone of anything: not their parents, not the babysitter, and certainly not the police. And when Nebbercracker collapses in a seemingly dead heap and is soon thereafter wheeled away in an ambulance, it truly does become a game of Them Vs. The Rest of the World. That's because his absence prompts the house to come to life, distorting itself into a grotesque, splintery face whenever someone steps onto the property (the windows are the eyes, the front door is the mouth, and the porch railing make up the teeth). It uses images of wanted objects like toys as a lure, giving it ample opportunity to hungrily gobble innocent people up.

The story takes place in October, specifically the day before and the night of Halloween. From a strictly entertainment-based point of view, that's the perfect time of year for a house to come to life and for a group of children to fight against it. But it also serves the plot reasonably well: keep in mind that Halloween is the one night when large groups of children wander the streets, knock on doors, and beg for candy. They'll be tempted to knock on Nebbercracker's door, despite not knowing that he's gone and that the house is alive. And because DJ, Chowder, and Jenny firmly believe that the spirit of a bitter old man is literally possessing the walls of his former house, they know they have to act quickly; a house with a ravenous appetite for people will almost certainly get its fill on Halloween, especially if it wants revenge against the children who pestered it for so many years.

But when the heroic trio manages to enter the house (meant to be pulled off through an elaborate conglomeration of a vacuum cleaner and bottles of cold medicine), they discover many things about Nebbercracker no one had ever known before. They have to go about it carefully, though; the house, it seems, has the ability to fall asleep, and if it wakes up, the floor will act as a throat, the carpet will act as a tongue, and the feeding frenzy will begin. Searching as discreetly as they can, they see pictures of a woman named Constance (seen in flashback and voiced by Kathleen Turner). They also discover a basement filled with toys, presumably the ones Nebbercracker had been snatching away all these years. Most importantly, they find a cage with a heart-shaped lock. All of these discoveries connect and they eventually lead to a pretty stunning revelation, one that directly relates to a sad event in the old man's past.

It's this sad event in particular that shows a much darker side to this story, a side some parents may not want their younger children to see. A couple of things about this movie are a little heavy-handed for anyone under the age of eight, including a mean boyfriend character (Jason Lee) that drinks a beer while angrily taunting Nebbercracker. But don't get the wrong impression; this is very much a family film, and it's filled with child-friendly characters. These include the babysitter, Zee (Maggie Gyllenhaal), the nerdy videogame fanatic, Skull (Jon Heder), and the completely inept cops Lister (Nick Cannon) and Landers (Kevin James). They add appropriately humorous touches without taking anything away from the more serious undertones of the story. On top of everything, the film successfully mixes in important ideas about beliefs, friendship, and understanding. That was no small feat, considering the audience has to keep their attention fixed on the old, rickety, possessed house the entire time.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that the story teaches the characters a valuable lesson. This is despite the fact that most of them are continuously learning throughout the film (whether or not they're aware of it). I will say that the sequences of events push the main characters into rethinking what they thought of as the truth. It's surprising that this method worked so well in a haunted house movie; in other films of that kind, I've found that it can detract from the main focus of the story. Sometimes it doesn't work at all, like in the case of the "Thirteen Ghosts" remake. It was so overburdened with special effects and spooky imagery that its story was completely lost in the process. Fortunately, "Monster House" is a pure haunted house movie, made with care, precision, and style. It was an imaginative, well-crafted film, and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.

For one thing, let's not forget that this movie was rated PG. For those who complained that it was not appropriate for kids as young as 8 years old, well, you should not have had your child there in the first place.

Animation is fun when it comes to movies, but too many people forget that not all animated films are for kids. This film could very well give kids nightmares, espeically those who are afraid of the dark. I can't fault the movie makers for this though. I can't fault the MPAA either. This film was rated accordingly. I have grandchildren who are 8 and above who enjoyed the movie tremendously. Those who take their kids to see these types of films should know their children's fears. They should also know that this movie was rated PG and, therefore, is not going to be anything like Peter Pan.

Can't take my eyes away from this movie in my Sony BDP-S1 on my 1080i HDTV. Absolutely incredible. In the second chapter, when the boy bounces his basketball off the backboard (then rolls across the street) we literally followed the ball around the room. Lossless audio quality. Spellbounding visual quality. Blu-ray is amazing and this movie is amazing to watch. Can't wait to receive Corpse Bride (blu-ray) this week from Amazon.