Movie Review: Monster House

Stars: 1 out of 5
Pros: The animation of the house.

Cons: Everything else

The Bottom Line:

Boring for adults

And will frighten many kids

Avoid this movie

Monstrous Disaster

Every neighborhood has one – the house that everyone fears. It is slightly run down and the owner is a weirdo that drives everyone away from the property.

In this particular neighborhood, that house is across the street from DJ (voice of Mitchel Musso) and is owned by Nebbercracker (Steve Buscemi). He's convinced that something strange is happening there, but he can never get any adults to believe him.

One day, his friend Chowder (Sam Lerner) loses his ball on the lawn. While trying to get it back, the two friends upset Nebbercracker. When the conflict sends Nebbercracker to the hospital, the boys think they have their chance to find out what is really happening. But spying from across the street becomes a full out assault when a girl scout named Jenny (Spencer Locke) gets her cookies eaten by the house. Have they been seeing things, or is the house really alive? Will anyone ever believe them?

I had a feeling from the previews I wouldn't like this film. But I was with a group of friends who decided to watch this movie despite my protests. I was sorry to be proved correct.

The story looks like it is aimed at kids, but it really isn't. The story features a baby sitter who has a heavy make out session with her stoner boyfriend who won't stop making out when asked, a main character who thinks he's killed an adult, and plenty of shocking and horrifying scenes involving the house eating things and people. Kids under 10 or 12 will get nightmares. Frankly, how it got a PG rating instead of PG-13 is beyond me.

Unfortunately, this movie doesn't work for adults, either. The plot has been done before and better in other movies making the scares very predictable if you've seen other haunted house movies. Several of the people I was watching it with fell asleep. While I stayed awake, I wasn't frightened at all by the film, and I get frightened very easily.

Adding to the trouble are the characters. They are very shallow and we don't really come to care for any of them. The best character is Chowder, who is there to provide the comic relief. He has some funny lines and scenes. DJ is flat, and as the main character, we're supposed to sympathize with him the most. Jenny starts out stuck up but transforms into a nice character almost instantly. Then there's the horrid babysitter and her boyfriend. They were more creepy then the house.

To top it off, the animation is just ok. They did a great job with the house. The transformation between house and monster is well done and very creative. However, everything else fails. It's supposed to be stylized but just comes off looking plasticy. Think the toys in Toy Story. I have a feeling it was supposed to look like claymation, but it didn't work for me.

Since this movie will bore adults and scare kids, I'm not sure who is left. Skip Monster House. There are much better movies out there that everyone can enjoy.