Monster House: Animated Horror Laced With Tween Charm
posted Thursday, July 27th, 2006 by Victoria Fung
On Halloween eve, three kids set out to uncover the mystery of the ramshackle house across the street, where anything or anyone that lands on the lawn eerily disappears. Monster House, directed by newcomer Gil Kenan and executive-produced by industry legends Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis, is a horror film for kids with poignancy and a happy ending. But it takes some getting used to.
Filmed with the same technology that Zemeckis used on The Polar Express, the characters of Monster House look creepy, with their oversized heads and plastic hair. Still the animation captures a rich range of expressiveness, enhanced by such voice talents as Steve Buscemi as the angry, freakish owner of the house and Maggie Gyllenhaal as the self-serving babysitter from Hell.
Geeks and freaks will identify readily with tween heroes DJ (Mitchel Musso) and his chubby friend Chowder (Sam Lerner) as they vie for the attention of plucky prep schooler Jenny (Spencer Locke). Kenan deftly depicts their fears and epiphanies – as well as their flights of fancy beyond their mundane suburban lives.
When the house takes on a monstrous life of its own and its freak-show origins are revealed, the movie takes on a tiresome pace that makes us yearn for resolution.
Even so, Monster House scores as a charming first effort for Kenan. I expected better, but still walked away smiling.
Nitpicks – The little girl tearing down the sidewalk on her tricycle in the opening scene looks to be a preschooler, yet is already missing her two upper front teeth – too old for the three-wheel set.
Also, the premise of how the dwelling came to be a monster was a disappointment – and left me feeling bad for the tortured spirit of house. The kids did the right thing, but the outcome seemed unjust.
Geek-o-Meter: We give it a “7″. Monster House falls short of the hype but is still an imaginative mix of the macabre in suburbia.
