Monster House

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Paul and I saw Monster House last night.

I’ve seen a few people raving about it on their blogs, and while I don’t think it’s as superb, or emotionally affecting as they’ve been saying, it’s a refreshingly different animated film that steers clear of fairy tales, talking insects, fish and anthropomorphic cars.



Focusing on an old, creepy house that seems to consume anything that ends up on its lawn, Monster House has a dark, fright focus that you’d expect from executive producer Robert Zemeckis. Co-executive producer Steven Spielberg also wrote and produced my favourite haunted house movie of all time, Poltergeist.

I think I’ll go out on a limb at this point and say that Monster House has better “human” character animation than seen even in The Incredibles. I was particularly captivated by the adult supporting cast which includes a gothy babysitter, 2 inept small town cops (one of whom is exceptionally trigger-happy rookie) and geeky video game champion.

The storyline is pretty straightforward – 3 friends on the cusp of puberty, ignored by adults, decide to destroy the haunted house’s ‘heart’ before it starts devouring unsuspecting children trick-or-treating on Halloween. The film certainly isn’t for young children. It has a number of fright moments, a dark streak of humour and some one-liners that will register with adults only.

Jenny: Look! That must be its uvula!
Chowder: Oh. So its a GIRL house...

Monster House gets a bit overblown towards the end but if you have fond memories of ‘growing up / kids taking initiative’ live action films like The Goonies and Stand By Me, you’ll probably enjoy it as much as we did.

A definite nominee for next years Oscar for Best Animated Film.

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