Sunday, August 27, 2006

Movie review: Monster House

I went to see Monster House this weekend. I hadn't planned to until a friend of mine sent out this review.


"Monster House" ranks up with "Hoodwinked" and "Cars" as one of the best animated pictures I've seen this year. Technically, the care taken with lighting and texturing is lushly apparent. The character animation, from gross body movements to facial movement and their application not only to the lines spoken, but their inflection, is simply excellent. The story reeks of the hands of the movie's executive producers - Spielberg and Zemeckis - and in a good way. Though his name's not on the director's credit, this is the closest thing Spielberg's come to the sense of childlike wonder and danger he achieved in " E.T.", which may explain why Amblin optioned this script in the first place.

The story is classic Kid's Neighborhood Ghost Story. The old man in the creepy old house who yells at kids to keep off his lawn... has a secret. It's lightweight, and might be a little intense for small kids. Miranda hid in my lap during a couple of scenes, although at the climax, when the demonic house is marauding around the neighborhood trying to eat children, Lillian was gleefully cheering it on "Get em! Get em!"

I found the whole story to be simple, but very well executed. A few clunky parts don't detract from the breezy pace and delightfully realistic (for the premise) dialog from the movie's 11-year old (or so) protagonists. The relationships are deftly executed enough to be blindingly familiar to anyone who was in 6th grade at any point.

What I loved about this movie was its lack of concern for propriety and willingness to throw some seriously fearsome visuals into a kids' movie. With the amount of sharp dialog, double-entendres, strangely affecting humor and one seriously fascinating (and scary) house, I wonder if the Ghost of Jim Henson doesn't warrant a third Executive Producer credit.

I highly recommend this picture. It's not getting a lot of audience right now, though it deserves more (shades of "The Iron Giant"), and the number of "This movie is not appropriate!" comments I've read from whiny parents so far (who would probably have a coronary if they saw "The Dark Crystal") should only cement resolve to show some box-office love to this picture. It's not perfect, but it's a supremely superior example of the type of entertainment that Grandpa Pixar has ushered into the world.

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