Monster House (2006) July 25, 2007
Posted by gproject in : Recently Viewed , trackbackDirected by: Gil Kenan
Maybe the darkest of the children’s animated features from last year, this film presented a refreshing alternative from the glut of other computer generated tales which mainly consisted of cute, good-natured animals going on various adventures (see: Barnyard, Over The Hedge, Ice Age 2 [review], Happy Feet [review]). The only real worry is whether it would go too far, overstating its horror elements and alienating the audience it so needs in order to succeed.
The story takes place over the course of a couple of days in the life of two friends, DJ and Chouder, who, along with their new accomplice Jenny, discover a terrifying secret about the house across the street: it’s alive! Worse than this, it’s eating anybody who comes close to finding out. After attempts to explain the situation to adults ends in ridicule, and with Halloween night approaching (when unaccompanied children will be freely available for the house to digest), the threesome decide to take matters into their own hands – the house must be destroyed.
The first detail worth noting is the high quality of voice acting on display, from child actors Mitchel Musso, Sam Lerner and Spencer Locke in the lead roles, to the host of adult talent on display. Traditional comic actors such as Jason Lee and Kevin James play very well next to those who are new to voice acting such as Maggie Gyllenhaal and Napoleon Dynamite’s Jon Heder.
As well as this, the character animation is very good for the most part, taking a slightly plasticine-y approach to the models which helps subside the need for pin-point realism in everything else – though that’s not to say that Sony Animation don’t give it their all, putting great amounts of work into the locations and objects. They’ve also put some extra effort into the effects, which are quite spectacular, especially in the sequences where the house comes alive.
If there’s one criticism to be made it’s that sometimes the characters are slightly over-exaggerated in their motions, but given the cartoon look of the whole thing it will probably pass most people by unnoticed. It’s also interesting to note that the character performances were motion captured for this movie, which begs the question whether the actors were told to over-state their gestures for capture, or whether the animators took some liberties during production.
The movie is a comfortable 90-minutes in length, but it wastes no time in getting on with the central story, letting the characters develop alongside the main plotline. This is an admirable move as it is often the case that, for better or for worse, the opening section of a kids movie is all about meeting the characters and providing a lead-in to the actual plot. Naturally, there are a couple of sly jokes for adults dropped in, but the humour mainly directs itself either straight at kids, or to a general audience through particularly funny line readings. The film does have its share of amusing moments nonetheless; a notable achievement given the subtle creepiness that haunts much of the midsection of the movie.
It’s not perfect though, and doesn’t quite live up to the storytelling standards set by the likes of Pixar. There’s something very linear and straightforward about the plot of Monster House, so much so that towards the end it seems to be begging for a bit more. Still, it’s commendable for challenging the genre of horror and how it can be used in a family movie context, and certainly has enough to entertain both young and old for the duration.
Comments»
I’d agree with most of that - I reviewed this one a couple of months back at my own spot (http://filmjournal.net/paulwjm/2007/05/06/monster-house/) and thought it was quite a fun watch. I think there was probably some influence in the genesis of the movie in the fact that they wanted to experiment with the 3D technique (which is was projected in at some cinemas), which is not a good sign, but they seem to have produced something worth owning.