Monster House (Widescreen Edition)
by Gil Kenan
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Mitchel Musso, Ryan Newman, Sam Lerner, Spencer Locke, Steve BuscemiDirector: Gil Kenan
Brand: Sony
Producer: Bennett Schneir
Producer: Heather Kelton
Producer: Jack Rapke
Producer: Jason Clark
Writer: Dan Harmon
Writer: Pamela Pettler
Writer: Rob Schrab
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: AC-3, Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 2.40:1
Running Time: 91 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-10-24
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Movie Reviews of Monster House (Widescreen Edition)
Movie Review: A Modern Day Classic in Every Sense of the Term
Summary: 5 Stars
When it comes to the current crop of computer animated feature films, some of the biggest surprises in the industry come from pretty unlikely sources. Nope, you won't find the words Disney or Pixar anywhere on this one nor will you find DreamWorks famous kid fishing off the half-moon. You may discover that Sony Imageworks was involved in the production, Columbia Pictures handles the distribution oh and perhaps you're familiar with the two executive producers: Steven Spielberg & Robert Zemeckis?
Rest assured, this is a title that actually manages to live up to the precedent these two gentleman established back in the 1980s with a whole class of films that captured the simple joys of youth, the sense of adventure within our own imaginations and the fear and terror of those things all kids worry about but don't talk about at the school lunch table for fear of ridicule.
Monster House follows the exploits of early-teen DJ who finds himself smack dab in the ugly transitional phase from boy to man when the responsibilities of being adult blend annoyingly with the rules of being a kid.
DJ has developed a slight obsession with observing the goings-on across the street with old man Nebbercracker (who flips out when children trespass on his lawn) and the creaky old house in which he resides.
When DJ's parents travel to a dental seminar on Halloween eve and leave DJ with a babysitter not much older than he is, he calls upon his clumsy best friend Chowder to begin investigating the phenomenon taking place a few feet away from his house. When the house nearly swallows the cute door-to-door candy salesgirl Jenny, the trio of paranormal investigators is born on the spot.
Adults don't want to hear it, the police think the kids are being pranksters; the babysitter is more concerned with her boyfriend and with Halloween approaching rapidly and with it hordes of innocent trick-or-treaters, the mystery of the Monster House has to be solved before it can claim countless costumed victims just looking for some candy.
I knew this one was something special right in the first lines of dialog. The humor is spot-on! And rather than simple animate the whole film using figments of a team of animators' imaginations, Monster House uses the motion capture method of animation made famous by films like the Polar Express and Robert Zemeckis' version of the ancient legend Beowulf.
The technique works here and establishes a very atypical suburbia with just enough hints of fall in the air to add to the magical feel that time of year naturally inspires.
It's the acting however that elevates this film to the top tier of the modern CG animation film. The young actors are just brilliant in their deliveries from beginning to end and couple this to a script that had a room full of adults laughing out loud nearly continually and you realize that this is no ordinary "kid's movie".
About my only complaint about this entire film is that, as many others have noted, this really isn't ideal for younger viewers or even overly jumpy adults. A few moments are a bit intense although never is the film graphic, overly violent, nor does it contain a single cuss. It's simply guilty of classic-filmmaking suspense whereby what you hear and don't see on screen can be far more terrifying than even the most graphic costume, prop or computer-generated monster.
And like the empire on which Steven Spielberg's empire has been built, the ending actually reveals what turns out to be a story of love and compassion at its core.
In all, I came away from Monster House absolutely enamored with the plot, pacing, flow, visuals, and perhaps most of all, genuine humor. Truly this film harkens back to a more innocent time of visual story telling and is an absolute delight to behold as a result.
Summary of Monster House (Widescreen Edition)
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