Every weekend we do something with my son. One day is currently reserved for swimming and the other we spend either at Busch Gardens, the movies, or some other fun place. This summer is a bonanza for children's movies with 'Over The Hedge', 'Cars', 'Monster House', and the upcoming 'Barnyard' and 'The Ant Bully'.
Today we saw 'Monster House' and it was an out of the park, grand slam homerun.
The Plot
'Monster House' is the story of a neighborhood curmudgeon, Old Man Nebbercracker, who lives in a spooky old house and has a penchant for confiscating any toy that lands on his yard. Enter two friends, DJ and Chowder who make the mistake of trespassing on Nebbercracker's property to retrieve Chowder's basketball. In a struggle that pits Nebbercracker against DJ the old man falls ill and appears to die of a heart attack setting off a rollercoaster series of events starting with the awakening of the monster house. The duo are joined by Jenny, an industrious prep school girl who assists them in battling the monster house. The now trio are on a time clock though as Halloween is fast approaching and they must rid the neighborhood of the evil house before it becomes a threat to trick-or-treaters. Will they succeed? Why did I make a housewife reference in my review title? You'll have to buy a ticket to find out.
Cast
The voices of the characters include a veritable who's who of Hollywood talent as well as some less familiar names:
DJ - Mitchell Musso (Secondhand Lions)
Chowder - Sam Lerner (Envy)
Jenny - Spencer Locke (Spanglish)
Nebbercracker - Steve Bucsemi (Reservoir Dogs, Armageddon, Con Air, etc)
Officer Lister - Nick Cannon (Drumline)
Zee - Maggie Gyllenhaal (Adaption, Mona Lisa Smile, etc)
Skull - Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite, Benchwarmers)
Officer Landers - Kevin James (King of Queens)
Bones - Jason Lee (Chasing Amy, My Name is Earl)
DJ's Mom - Catherine O'Hara (SCTV, Beetlejuice, Home Alone, etc.)
Constance - Kathleen Turner (Body Heat, Romancing the Stone, Prizzi's Honor, etc)
DJ's Dad - Fred Willard (Anchorman, American Pie 3, etc)
Producers
'Monster House' is an amazing animated movie from the incredible executive producers Robert Zemeckis (Polar Express, Cast Away, Forrest Gump, etc.) and Steven Spielberg (where to even begin listing his movies). With two such brilliant minds you can imagine how intensely entertaining this movie could be.
Studio
Monster House was produced by Columbia Pictures and animated by Sony Pictures.
Animation
Monster House was animated by Sony Pictures Imageworks using their ‘Performance Capture’ Computer Generated Images (CGI). This is the same technique they used to make the masterful Polar Express. With this technique they are able to produce an animated movie that has ultra-realistic movement and graphics. In the case of Monster House the animation looks similar to stop motion claymation, but is much smoother and more enjoyable to watch. This is also the second movie to be released using Real D’s 3D Cinema format that was previously used for Chicken Little. So if you are lucky enough to be in an area that has one of the 215 screens capable of using this effect you can see the movie in state-of-the-art 3D.
Running Time
1 hour, 31 minutes.
Rating
Rated PG for scary images and sequences, thematic elements, some crude humor and brief language.
I’m normally pretty careful about what I allow my four year old to see and was particularly concerned with how scary Monster House might be. Given recommendations I received after yesterday’s release I decided to give it a go and I’m glad I did. My son absolutely loved the film and although parts were pretty scary he never lost touch with the fact that this was just an animated movie. Had it been a live action movie it would have been way too scary. I would still advise caution with younger children.
Our Experience
This was easily one of the two best animated movies my son has seen to date. The other being the Robert Zemeckis produced and Sony Pictures Imageworks animated Polar Express. In my opinion they are setting the bar and now Pixar and Dreamworks are lagging behind. I guess the best way to describe it is to say that it had energy that grabbed you and kept you involved in the movie from start to finish. The humor is aimed at all age levels and my son and I both found much to keep us chuckling. The storyline is easy enough for a four year old to follow and rich enough to keep an adult entertained. Monster House is very atmospheric with a Autumn/Halloween feel, it’s a shame they didn’t time it for a Halloween release as I think it would have been a real box office hit. As it is it has to compete with a number of animated features almost back to back. I still think it will do very well and we are sure to see it again before it leaves the theaters.
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