Monster House!
Every neighborhood has one: A faintly creepy house that just doesn’t seem right for some reason. Maybe it’s the dead trees out front. Maybe it’s the partially-toothed old coot living within who threatens kids and steals any playthings that land in his yard. Maybe it’s the pungent reek of vagrant urine or the meth lab in the basement. Or maybe it’s just the vague uneasiness that strikes at the spine and scalp of overly imaginative kids. Whatever it is, the monster house in Monster House is definitely not right.
As the title of the film gives away, the house is haunted. When it menaces three neighborhood kids, it anthropomorphizes into a lumbering, paint-peeling wood juggernaut. The windows become eyes; the porch and open front door become the gaping maw of hell (or something like that), and the worn floor and clatterboards become giant splintery teeth. Even the seemingly innocent grass menaces passersby, swallowing stray balls, kites, and other playground detritus like a ravenous green carpet. The kids are terrified of the old man within, Mr. Nebbercracker, who looks a bit like a gollum and scares kids away from his place. Rumor has it that Nebbercracker killed his wife and buried her somewhere in the home, adding to the dread. Still, when the plucky teens see the house come alive on Halloween, they feel they must protect unsuspecting kids from the house. With the dubious advice from video game addicted nerdboy, the trio eventually make it inside the haunted home and explore its dark secrets.
Monster House hits many of the standard kid film cliches, and of course the house only becomes monstrous (at first anyway) to the children, leaving the disbelieving adults to conclude that the kids' panic is the result of overactive imaginations, mischief, and/or “too much Mountain Dew” (which, by the way, actually does contain more caffeine than most other soft drinks). Monster House reminded me of a Ray Bradbury story, perhaps Something Wicked This Way Comes; a story of adolescence encountering a banal, neighborhood evil. Though Monster House is ostensibly a kids' movie, it does have a few fairly scary scenes and may be unsuitable for overly impressionable kids.
The animation is interesting and fun to watch, but a bit odd. It's not a bad animation style, but is definitely different and was done using real actors and motion-capture technology. The result is less like Toy Story or Shrek character designs for example, and more like Max Headroom (or the creepy Putterman family of the 1990s Duracell commercials--remember them?).
The script, frankly, is a bit clunky and the weakest part of the film. I won’t go into all the reasons why because that would give away some fun revelations as the plot unfolds, but the backstory of Nebbercracker is half-baked and borderline silly. (In one flashback, Nebbercracker’s wife is seen in a traveling carnival as a fat lady. The script, however--perhaps out of political correctness or lazy writing--mistakenly refers to her as a “giantess.” But a sideshow giantess would be tall, not fat. “Fat lady” is the correct and appropriate name for the fat lady's performance and role. Perhaps a minor point, but there you are.) Monster House will also be released in IMAX 3-D, which should be impressive, so if it's available near you, that's the way to go.
