Monster House (21 July 2006)
directed by Gil Kenan
starring Ryan Newman, Steve Buscemi, Mitchel Musso, Catherine O'Hara, Fred Willard, Sam Lerner, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jason Lee, Spencer Locke, Kevin James, Nick Cannon, Jon Heder, Kathleen Turner
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MPAA rating: Studio: Sony Pictures, ImageMovers, Amblin Entertainment Script: Dan Harmon, Rob Schrab, Pamela Pettler Music: Douglas Pipes Running time: 91 minutes Tags: Adventure; Animation; basketballs; Comedy; Family Film; ghosts; grass; Halloween; Mystery; telescopes Tactical strength: [7/10]
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for scary images and sequences, thematic elements, some crude humor and brief language
I think every neighborhood has a scary house that everyone avoids, and it always seems that rumors about the occupant spread like urban legends through email. DJ (voice by Mitchel Musso) lives right across the street from his neighborhood's scary house and its occupant Mr. Nebbercracker (voice by Steve Buscemi). Mr. Nebbercracker has fits if anyone every sets foot on his lawn and confiscates any toy that lands on his property. DJ watches Nebbercracker through a telescope in his bedroom window and keeps a log of the terrible things happening across the street. His appeals to adult authority go unheeded. "Mom, that's three tricycles this week." Rumors say that some time long in the past, Mr. Nebbercracker fattened his wife up, killed her, and hate her remains.
Everything about the house changes when DJ's friend Chowder (voice by Sam Lerner) accidentally bounces his basketball onto Mr. Nebbercracker's lawn on the day before Halloween. Mr. Nebbercracker comes out screaming, has a heart attack, and get taken away in an ambulance. "No lights. No Siren," Chowder says. "Never a good sign." With Mr. Nebbercracker gone, the house becomes even more evil, snapping up stray dogs with it's Persian rug tongue, but only showing its true nature around kids. Whenever adults turn up, like the local police, the house returns to its usual gloomy, but non-threatening, nature.
Jenny (voice by Spencer Locke) from a local private school comes to the neighborhood selling candy. DJ and Chowder both fall for her immediately, and they rush to prevent her from approaching the monster house. Jenny narrowly escapes, and the three try to figure out how to prevent the tragedy that must ensue when trick-or-treaters start knocking on the door of the monster house.
Monster House pleasantly blends the house mystery, a case of mistaken intentions with Mr. Nebbercracker, first love, and light comedy together in this animated feature. The animation uses the same motion capture technology used to make The Polar Express, so all the motion looks very lifelike and human. Only once while Chowder bounces a basketball does the animation seem to violate natural laws of motion. Even when the monster house gets up and walks, the motion looks plausible.
So the big mystery . . . why release Monster House in July? The story line clearly takes place at the end of October. I could only come up with two possibilities: Amblin has something else slated for October or the producers think they'll do much better with DVD sales this coming October. Whatever the reason, Monster House provides a nice, family-friendly movie with a good story and well developed characters.
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