7tavern: Monster House

Monster House

Sound (2)
3.2
Plot (2)
3
Cast (2)
2.6
Special Effects (2)
3.3
Length & Pace (2)
3.1
Cinematography (2)
2.5

Directors: Gil Kenan

Writers: Dan Harmon, Rob Schrab

Release: 21 July 2006 (USA)

Tagline: There Goes The Neighborhood.

Plot: Three teens discover that their neighbor's house is really a living, breathing, scary monster.

Cast: Ryan Newman - Little Girl (voice), Steve Buscemi - Nebbercracker (voice), Mitchel Musso - DJ (voice), Catherine O'Hara - Mom (voice), Fred Willard - Dad (voice), Sam Lerner - Chowder (voice), Woody Schultz - Paramedic #1 (voice), Ian McConnel - Paramedic #2 (voice), Maggie Gyllenhaal - Zee (voice), Jason Lee - Bones (voice), Spencer Locke - Jenny (voice), Kevin James - Officer Landers (voice), Nick Cannon - Officer Lister (voice), Jon Heder - Reginald 'Skull' Skulinski (voice), Kathleen Turner - Constance (voice)

Runtime: 91 min

Country: USA

Language: English

Company: Columbia Pictures

Links: IMDb Profile

Categories: Animation, Family, Fantasy

Main

Trailer

joekhor
Reviews: 63
Points: 0 (Level 1)
Reviewer

Sound:
Plot:
Cast:
Special Effects:
Length & Pace:
Cinematography:

3.8

3.5

2.6

4.1

3.6

2.5

Monster House

The Gist

Three kids have their toys in the lawn of a scary-looking house. Whenever they try to pick them up, a scary and grumpy old man comes out to terrorise them and warns them to stay out of the house. He does it too enthusiastically one day and he dies on the spot. Whoa! A character dies in an animation! Gasp! Back to the gist; the kids then take the opportunity to explore the house.

What Do I Think?

This was not my first choice of the film as I had wanted to watch Nacho Libre actually. They were not showing it so I opted for this instead. (*cough* BTS *cough*). As I had mentioned earlier, watching a movie with zero expectation really helps a lot as the end results yielded a treasure-chest-ful of fun.

Previously they had Polar Express, which was such a normal film that everyone forgot about it after 2 days. They got smarter and came back with a production along the lines of how them Pixar guys do it. Something the kids can relate to and something not really done before – horror film! (Corpse Bride was not really horror. It was eccentric).

What Pixar does not practice is the ‘performance scan’, which required the voice actors to provide more than just their voices. With wires and image points attached to their bodies, they need to act their scenes and their facial expressions are captured and used as animation guide. What we get in the end is rewarding: I enjoyed watching their realistic animated facial expressions and more importantly, they are fun to watch!

The story is rather original although I think they could have picked up the concept from Japanese horror films say, in the veins of The Ring, The Phone, One Missed Call and Ju On. The title got me thinking that the house is just haunted or it is full of monsters but No… the title is literal; the house is really a monster! While Pixar prides itself in originality in screenplay and dialogue, this one is really not bad. While the demographics are targeted for kids, there are bits and pieces of dialogue that adults could enjoy.

Lastly, I feel that the strength of the movie lies in how the story unfolds itself to bring to the mystery’s end.

Rating: 8/10. At last, a worthy competitor for Pixar!

Trivia: The voice provider of the old man’s wife is also the same as Jessica Rabbit from Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

(Read Less...)

Last updated: 2009-08-11 21:42:16 by joekhor

2009-08-11 09:37:15

ykantgoranrite
Reviews: 450
Points: 0 (Level 1)
Reviewer

Monster House (Gil Kenan, 2006)

*** USA A scary-cuddly Dreamworks cartoon that bears the heavy imprint of executive producers Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis. It's slight and sometimes awkward but the titular villain is a clever invention and the voice work - Maggie Gyllenhaal's in particular - is spot-on.

(Read More...)

2010-03-16 23:56:27

joekhor
Reviews: 63
Points: 0 (Level 1)
Reviewer

Monster House

The Gist Three kids have their toys in the lawn of a scary-looking house. Whenever they try to pick them up, a scary and grumpy old man comes out to terrorise them and warns them to stay out of the house. He does it too enthusiastically one day and he dies on the spot. Whoa! A character dies in an animation! Gasp! Back to the gist; the kids then take the opportunity to explore the house. What Do I Think? This was not my first choice of the film as I had wanted to watch Nacho Libre actually. They were not showing it so I opted for this instead. (*cough* BTS *cough*). As I had mentioned earlier, watching a movie with zero expectation really helps a lot as the end results yielded a treasure-chest-ful of fun. Previously they had Polar Express, which was such a normal film that everyone forgot about it after 2 days. They got smarter and came back with a production along the lines of how them Pixar guys do it. Something the kids can relate to and something not really done before...

(Read More...)

2009-08-11 09:37:15

» = New Post

Movies you may like

Discuss Monster House

Log in to comment.