It's Alive! IT'S ALIVE!!!

Sony Pictures - Monster House

Title: Monster House
Director: Gil KenanRated:
PG (For scary images and sequences, thematic elements, some crude humor and brief language)

There's been so much animation released this year, that it's almost been hard to keep track it all. We've gotten cartoons about monkey's, cars, and teenagers who drift in mountains in Tokyo (oh wait). Keeping track of them can be a bit of a chore, and I had no reason to be really excited about "Monster House" in any way. I mean, the story seems simple enough: Old man across the street lives in a house that is secretly haunted and READY TO EAT YOU IF YOU STEP ON THE LAWN!!!!!! Yeah, okay, that sounds pretty lame. Oh, and this movie is being made from a guy who has never made a movie before and just got out of college? Gee, this all sounds so...fun. I'm sorry, but when I can sum up the storyline in one sentence, it gets hard to get into the idea behind the movie.
But I am here to tell you, I was wrong in my assumptions. Dead wrong. From the way the movies looked, this looked like a movie for little kids prying on their fears that old houses will eat you while spitting on you, or something like that. But "Monster House" not only ends up being far more complicated and deep then the previews suggest, it actually ends up being scary. The story revolves around a twelve year old boy named D.J. D.J. is growing up, his voice is starting to crack, and he's starting to notice girls. When his best friend, a boy with the strange name of Chowder, comes over to inquire about Trick or Treating on Halloween the next day, D.J. says that he doesn't intend to Trick or Treat, as that sort of thing is beginning to feel very silly to him as he gets older.

The only possibly reason D.J. would have to going Trick or Treating would be if the babysitter he was being stuck with all weekend got on his nerves to a certain extent (when we meet her, we find that she might be all the motivation he needs to go out). But while the two boys are playing basketball, their balls falls on old man Nebbercrackers lawn, who died the previous day of a heart attack. When D.J. goes to retrieve the ball, the windows become eyes, the door becomes a mouth, and the trees become hands, and the house comes alive as he attacks young D.J. in a sudden and surprising attack sequence. The boys report the house to the police and the babysitter, but no one believes their story. Well, two people do. A pizza delivery boy named Skull believes them because of things he's seen between his journeys to his comic book conventions, and a girl named Jenny (who believes them mainly because the house tries to eat her).

When the house actually attacks and manages to eat someone, the kids realize they must do what they can to destroy the house before Halloween night comes, and tons of kids are put into danger. From this point on, we get a complicated film where secrets about the house are discovered, characters feelings are dived into, and some surprisingly scary moments lurk around every corner. This is one of the few animated features to actually set a mood and aura to create suspense and fear, instead of just making things jump out of shadows, which results more in cheap jumps then actual fear. One sequence where the kids launch in a plan gone wrong in particular gets very intense, very scary, and keeps you on the edge of your seat.

In fact, the whole movie does an extremely good job of balanced these terrifying, scary, excellent action sequences with these slow, somber, and intelligent scenes of dialog and character interaction. There is some humor spread out that feels like it was tacked on so that kids have something to laugh about (and I can't say they won't need these moments), but overall this is a thriller crossed with a character drama. Of course, you wouldn't know any of this is you watched the previews, but that's okay. This is what reviews are for. Reviews are also helpful because there might be a good movie that you wouldn't really know was good unless you read a good review. One of these movies if "Monster House." From the people I've talked to, no one has really been interested in this movie.

Either the story from the previews sound lame and boring. Maybe people are having a hard time keeping track of all the animated films out there. The biggest star in this movie is Jon Hedar, and he less then fifteen lines of dialog. The biggest reason though, from what I hear, is that it sounded like a kiddie film. Trust me folks, this is NOT a kiddie film! In fact, I'm going to venture to say that this film is scary enough, that I think kids under the age of ten are going to be scared by this film, as it really does become quite trippy (if you know what I mean). I also have to admit, this film gets quite sad near the end of the movie, to the point where I was on the verge of tears (of course, I'm a sucker for sad stories).

In fact, if it weren't for the fact that "A Scanner Darkly" came out this year, I would say that "Monster House" would have been the front runner for Best Animated Feature Film at the Academy Awards. If "A Scanner Darkly" doesn't win though, I'm sure this wonderful film will win. "Monster House" took me completely by surprise, as I wasn't expecting anything more then a simple kids movie. Instead, I got one of the most scary, action packed, emotional animated films I've seen since 2002's "Spirited Away." Here's hoping people take the time and take a chance on this wonderful film. Just leave all kids under ten at home, because this film is scary. I can't stress that enough, if you have kids under the age of ten, LEAVE THEM AT HOME!!!!

Side Note: Some theaters are showing this movie in 3D using the Real Cinema 3D process. Having seen the movie in 3D, I can testify that the 3D adds to the whole experience, and if the option to see it in 3D is available to you, then take it.