Monster House has gotten many mixed reviews on its release but every year around Halloween it’s become a classic to many casual viewers like myself. Personally I never really knew what to say about this film because from what I saw it does actually have some very interesting material that does really work to the film’s advantage but unfortunately I did find a couple of problems that kinda worked against the film.
DJ (Mitchel Musso) has always known the Old Mr. Nebbercracker (Steve Buscemi) has been hiding something as he keeps spying on him in his room as he scares kids off his lawn. One day, DJ’s friend Chowder (Sam Lerner) lands his basketball on Nebbercrackers lawn and when DJ tries to retrieve it, he accidentally gives Nebbercracker a heart attack which suddenly ignites a fire in the house’s furnace. Later that night DJ and Chowder figure out that the house is alive and is nothing more than a monster. With the additional help of a candy salesgirl named Jenny (Spencer Locke), the kids must figure out how to stop the monster house from coming alive to eat passing spectators on Halloween night.
The story definitely has a very creative concept and I can tell the creators had a lot of fun with how they can make an ordinary wooden house look like a terrifying monster. The movie also works as a mystery as later on, we find out that the owner of the home has more of a connection to his house than we once thought. Even though the overall premise on its own is impressive, there were sadly a few things that held it back from being great. One of them is the movie’s uncomfortable sense of humor and sadly this movie does use a lot of it. There are just some scenes like when the two boys are flirting with the girl or out-of-place commentary about growing up and leaving childhood behind that just seems awkwardly written and doesn’t seem to move the story forward very much. I personally felt like the second half of the movie felt a lot more interesting because it allowed the mystery to keep building up until the climax instead of focusing on random jokes and awkward writing. The movie might have many script problems but it is worth getting through the awkward bits in order to get to the more interesting ones.
The characters are pretty decent in their performances and most of them are likable in terms of what they offer. DJ and Chowder in a lot of ways are likable main characters but sometimes when the movie does its awkward humor it kinda ruins a little bit of their charm but thankfully they do keep them mostly interesting throughout the majority of the film. Jenny does work well with the other characters in the group and her charisma can really stand out from time to time. Mr. Nebbercracker is by far the best character in the film and I love how they take time in certain scenes to establish both his backstory and his somewhat relationship with DJ. Even the house on its own is a character itself and is really unpredictable with what attack it plans on doing next. The rest of the characters are just the typical stereotypes that usually end up being kinda forgettable and don't leave much of an impact. Some of them do connect to the story as they do have somewhat a backstory regarding the house but I honestly think the only reason they’re in the movie is to give the main characters something to complain about.
The Animation uses the same technique that was used in “The Polar Express” which is Capture motion. The character designs in all honesty are kinda ugly and made a little worse when they have to be animated with unusual movements. I can see they are trying to make the designs more unique with slightly cartoony looks but it surprisingly looks worse when their capture motioned even “Polar Express” did a better job. To its credit, the main characters and Mr. Nebbercracker are the only characters that look like they belong in this world but every other character just feels weirdly designed as well as animated. The Backgrounds do try to go for a horrific feel and the colors seem to range from those dark and murky blues and browns to those bright oranges and yellows to capture the feeling of Fall and Halloween. The biggest selling point of the animation is the House itself. The way they animate it to make it look terrifying is super impressive and the attention to detail inside the house is superb.
The music doesn't offer a lot but it works effectively in a lot of scenes especially during Nebbercracker’s backstory and those really creepy scenes when the house is doing something horrific or murderous (But not in a gory way of course)
So yeah I kinda did have more to complain about than I probably should have, but even despite the movie’s flaws, I still really like watching this movie. It’s a guilty pleasure in my eyes because the stuff that is good is really fricken good, especially in the second half of the movie. It may still have weird animation and childish humor that doesn’t offer that much for adults, but when the movie works, it can actually become a decent Halloween flick. I still like this movie and it does have more genius in it than even I myself should give it credit for. It is definitely worth a watch just don’t expect it to be the best family Halloween movie ever crafted.
(Final Grade: B-)