Despite its obvious Halloween themed overtones, Monster House was released this past summer to modest box office receipts. Being a "scary" animated film in the middle of July, it did fairly well for itself. I had wanted to see it, but something felt off about the trailers and reviews I read about it. It was recently nominated for a Best Animated Film Academy Award, and just by chance, I finally had the opportunity to see it. And there indeed was something off.
Something is not right at Mr. Nebbercracker's (Steve Buscemi) house. Anytime an object lands on his property or anywhere near the house, it automatically becomes his, and he is never nice to anyone in the neighbourhood. D.J. (Mitchel Musso) is intrigued by the whole thing, and continually spies and watches Nebbercracker's movements. Shortly after his parents leave for a two day trip, his friend Chowder (Sam Lerner) arrives with a new basketball. A missed shot lands the ball on Nebbercracker's lawn. D.J. attempts to retrieve it, and ends up in an argument with the old man, resulting in his apparent "death". After the ambulance takes him away though, strange things begin happening with his house, and begins to come alive.
Yes, the plot is extremely silly, but in a nostalgic 1980's sort of way. It may be animated, but it feels much in the same realm as live action fare like The Goonies, Gremlins and all the other mildly scary and terrifically silly films of that time period. It just has that distinct feel and mold to it, that just seems out of place in 2006, but would be right at home in 1986. It is not that the film is not good, but it just feels a bit too over-the-top, even for a kid's film. When the house really starts getting to the point of being beyond haunted, it just loses its focus and becomes a bad monster movie. Giving the whole thing an emotional backgrounder that little to no kids would be able to understand really does not help the film all that much either. It just contributes to its ridiculousness.
The story is imaginative and most definitely entertains, but only to a certain point. When things start getting explained, the film's narrative stops at a halt, and just barely picks up afterwards. It drags itself out to its eventual finale, and it just does not need all of this extra exposition. Why do we need gross pee jokes? Or a tokin' bumbling black rookie cop? Do the filmmakers honestly believe that little children are going to be taking these in as the funny moments they are meant to be? Or are they going to be too afraid to open their eyes with all of the horrific mayhem going on on-screen? It is not like the film holds back on the cheap child-like scares, it only keeps up. And especially being a kids movie, it just felt awkward to do so. The in-jokes were amusing however, but again, will go sailing past a young child more so than similar things in other animated films.
Another thing that threw me off was the animation itself. Now I may be more accustomed to the work of Pixar and Dreamworks, but some of the work done here just feels very aged and withered. No character has any real distinguishing features between each other (beyond their obvious personality differences), and virtually none of them have any real detail in their looks. Now, this may be attributed to the motion-capture style animation being done to bring this film to life, but then why were Gollum and King Kong so frigging detailed? It screams of lazy film-making, and again, makes it feel more at home in 1986. Even after looking at the fascinatingly short making-of featurettes on the DVD, I still cannot fathom why so much work went into creating the animation to be just right, but not enough was put in to make it intricately detailed like other CGI-animated films.
The voice talent all deliver their lines and actions very well. Buscemi is a hoot as the crazy old man Nebbercracker. He gives the right amount of intensity and emotion needed at all times, even when the focus of the film really begins to slip. Mercer, Lerner and Spencer Locke (the female of the group, Jenny) are not too bad at all as the kids trying to get to the bottom of the disturbances. Their naivety and adventuresome nature make for some greatly imaginative moments in the film (albeit, the film could have cut most of their wasteful scenes from their material). Supporting turns from Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jason Lee, Kevin James and Jon Heder are all amusing in their own right, and were definitely interesting choices for these actors.
All around, Monster House is a disappointing film culled from a very interesting idea. Its sheer ridiculousness just cannot be offset by the fact that its a children's film. That never gave anyone else a free pass to make subpar work, and unfortunately that is exactly what this film is. It is watchable though, but I doubt I will ever see why the Academy gave this film the nomination and passed on the astonishing satire of the far superior Over the Hedge.
6.5/10.
Something is not right at Mr. Nebbercracker's (Steve Buscemi) house. Anytime an object lands on his property or anywhere near the house, it automatically becomes his, and he is never nice to anyone in the neighbourhood. D.J. (Mitchel Musso) is intrigued by the whole thing, and continually spies and watches Nebbercracker's movements. Shortly after his parents leave for a two day trip, his friend Chowder (Sam Lerner) arrives with a new basketball. A missed shot lands the ball on Nebbercracker's lawn. D.J. attempts to retrieve it, and ends up in an argument with the old man, resulting in his apparent "death". After the ambulance takes him away though, strange things begin happening with his house, and begins to come alive.
Yes, the plot is extremely silly, but in a nostalgic 1980's sort of way. It may be animated, but it feels much in the same realm as live action fare like The Goonies, Gremlins and all the other mildly scary and terrifically silly films of that time period. It just has that distinct feel and mold to it, that just seems out of place in 2006, but would be right at home in 1986. It is not that the film is not good, but it just feels a bit too over-the-top, even for a kid's film. When the house really starts getting to the point of being beyond haunted, it just loses its focus and becomes a bad monster movie. Giving the whole thing an emotional backgrounder that little to no kids would be able to understand really does not help the film all that much either. It just contributes to its ridiculousness.
The story is imaginative and most definitely entertains, but only to a certain point. When things start getting explained, the film's narrative stops at a halt, and just barely picks up afterwards. It drags itself out to its eventual finale, and it just does not need all of this extra exposition. Why do we need gross pee jokes? Or a tokin' bumbling black rookie cop? Do the filmmakers honestly believe that little children are going to be taking these in as the funny moments they are meant to be? Or are they going to be too afraid to open their eyes with all of the horrific mayhem going on on-screen? It is not like the film holds back on the cheap child-like scares, it only keeps up. And especially being a kids movie, it just felt awkward to do so. The in-jokes were amusing however, but again, will go sailing past a young child more so than similar things in other animated films.
Another thing that threw me off was the animation itself. Now I may be more accustomed to the work of Pixar and Dreamworks, but some of the work done here just feels very aged and withered. No character has any real distinguishing features between each other (beyond their obvious personality differences), and virtually none of them have any real detail in their looks. Now, this may be attributed to the motion-capture style animation being done to bring this film to life, but then why were Gollum and King Kong so frigging detailed? It screams of lazy film-making, and again, makes it feel more at home in 1986. Even after looking at the fascinatingly short making-of featurettes on the DVD, I still cannot fathom why so much work went into creating the animation to be just right, but not enough was put in to make it intricately detailed like other CGI-animated films.
The voice talent all deliver their lines and actions very well. Buscemi is a hoot as the crazy old man Nebbercracker. He gives the right amount of intensity and emotion needed at all times, even when the focus of the film really begins to slip. Mercer, Lerner and Spencer Locke (the female of the group, Jenny) are not too bad at all as the kids trying to get to the bottom of the disturbances. Their naivety and adventuresome nature make for some greatly imaginative moments in the film (albeit, the film could have cut most of their wasteful scenes from their material). Supporting turns from Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jason Lee, Kevin James and Jon Heder are all amusing in their own right, and were definitely interesting choices for these actors.
All around, Monster House is a disappointing film culled from a very interesting idea. Its sheer ridiculousness just cannot be offset by the fact that its a children's film. That never gave anyone else a free pass to make subpar work, and unfortunately that is exactly what this film is. It is watchable though, but I doubt I will ever see why the Academy gave this film the nomination and passed on the astonishing satire of the far superior Over the Hedge.
6.5/10.