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Movie Review by:
Jim "Good Old JR" Rutkowski
Directed by: Gil Kenan
Written by: Dan Harmon, Rob Schrab, Pamela Pettler
Starring the Voices Of: Steve Buscemi, Nick Cannon, Maggie Gyllenhaal
Running time: 91 minutes,
Released: 07/21/09.
Rated PG for scary images and sequences, thematic elements, some crude
humor and brief language. |
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 Monster
House is, to the best of my knowledge, the first animated
haunted house movie, and quite possibly the first family
film to recall, at various times, Halloween, A Nightmare on
Elm Street, and The Amityville Horror. (Parents, don't worry
- the references are benign.) It's part story and part
spectacle, with the two halves being nicely balanced to
offer something for just about everyone. The film pays
enough attention to character development for us to care
about the protagonists (although it uses stereotypes as a
short-cut), and there's a substantial amount of humor. While
Monster House is in no way groundbreaking, it's an enjoyable
way to spend 90 minutes, and is suitable for all but the
youngest children, for whom some of the scarier sequences
may be too intense.
The premise is simple enough, although some wrinkles are
introduced along the way. Basically, the movie is about the
efforts of three kids - DJ (voice of Mitchel Musso), Chowder
(Sam Lerner), and Jenny (Spencer Locke) - to rid the
neighborhood of a possessed house that sits across the
street from DJ's home. This house has a bad habit of
"eating" anyone who ventures onto its property. The door
opens, a carpet tongue rolls out, and the widows stare
balefully at the offending party who is about to become
dinner. To add urgency to the situation, it's Halloween and
dozens of trick-or-treaters will be approaching the door in
costumes, expecting to be given treats, not to become them.
There's enough action and mildly scary stuff to keep
restless viewers involved, but the thing I appreciated most
was the way in which the three friends interact. Their
dialogue rings true. The two boys, both on the verge of
puberty, do silly things to impress Jenny. She recognizes
what's happening and uses it to her advantage. Most movies,
regardless of whether they're live-action or animated,
aren't this perceptive. It's a credit to first-time director
Gil Kenan and his screenwriters that they invest the time
and effort to get this right.
The filmmakers were smart in the way they cast the voices.
The three lead characters are played by relative newcomers,
while "familiar" voices fill supporting roles. Steve Buscemi
is Nebbercracker, the cranky old man living in the deranged
house. Catherine O'Hara and Fred Willard play DJ's parents.
Maggie Gyllenhaal is Elizabeth, the baby-sitter, and Jason
Lee is her gnarly boyfriend. Jon Heder gets into the action
as the best video game player on the face of the earth - a
guy who will wear an adult diaper so he doesn't have to
interrupt his time at the console with bathroom breaks. By
using this approach, the filmmakers can utilize recognizable
talent while giving us fresh voices for the leads, thereby
not generating preconceptions. (Would we view Jenny the same
if, for example, she was portrayed by Dakota Fanning?)
Visually, it cannot be argued that the film offers anything
new to conventional theater viewers. What impressed me about
Monster House's animation is not so much how the characters
look (they're a little doll-like), but how naturally their
motions are rendered. Consider a throw-away scene early in
the film when DJ and Chowder are shooting hoops. The way
they dribble and shoot the ball is so fluid and effortless
that it's difficult to accept it's not live-action.
200 theaters are showing Monster House in 3D. The
conventional print offers a taste of what the fortunate
minority will experience, since there are a lot of scenes in
which objects come at the camera. (Consider the opening
scene with a girl on a tricycle stirring up a storm of
leaves.) But in 3D the movie is a marvel. Produced by Robert
Zemeckis, who gave us The Polar Express, the 3D in Monster
House is on a par with the high standard set by Express. The
effect is completely immersive and I highly recommend that
you search it out in this format. Fortunately, Monster House
is strong enough that it doesn't need the 3D; it offers
enough to make it the years best animated movie in any local
multiplex. |
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MONSTER
HOUSE © 2006 Sony Pictures Releasing
All Rights Reserved
Review © 2006 Alternate Reality, Inc. |
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