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Review #197 of 365
Film: Monster House (2006) • REAL D (Digital 3D) [PG] 91 minutes
WIP™ Scale: (1st viewing $12.00 + 2nd viewing $14.50) / 2 = $13.25
Where Viewed: UA Colorado Mills Stadium 16 & Giant Screen, Lakewood, CO
When 2nd Seen: 27 June 2006
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Soundtrack: Down load now from 
or order the CD below.
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
NOTE: Please see review #1 of this film to avoid plot spoilers.
Of course, I had already seen Monster House and reviewed it back in June as it premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival. Seeing it again, this time in REAL 3D—a relatively new technique for creating 3D films that does not use two cameras to project the film and can apparently be rendered for digitally animated films much more easily than previously possible; in a theatre with great acoustics and an amazing sound system, and a digital projection system on a huge screen, well it was an entirely different sensory experience. If you have the option to see the film in this manner, I cannot recommend it highly enough. The animation is absolutely unbelievable. There's never been anything quite like it, and the entire film is 3D, unlike the recent Superman Returns IMAX 3D version that has 5 scenes that are in 3D. Note: Many theaters are charging an additional $1.50 for this film for the 3D glasses. This is well worth the additional fee to have your own pair.
What's also cool is that director Gil Kenan did not use the technique for stunts like the long things constantly popping out to virtually whack you in the face, rather he used the technique to give every frame amazingly realistic depth. This fully professional rendering of the film: meaning state of the art sound, projection, and 3D allowed for the full artistry of the film to be unleashed, with all due respect to the Landmark Egyptian Theater in Seattle, the film simply did not 'show' as well in that theatre.
So, a month and a half later, after Pirates and Cars, how does Monster House really stack up and what is to be made of the controversy over how 'scary' the film is?
On the first note, I gave Monster House a $12 out of $15 rating on the W.I.P. Scale™. This time I am giving it a $14.50 because of the stunning technological advancements in the field of 3D animation. It is still not as good as Cars which is the film to beat for the Academy Award® for Best Animated Film this year, and it lacks the whimsical humor and overall entertainment that Pirates delivers. So, settling in at $13.25 average value placed it squarely where it probably should be overall.
So, a month and a half later, after Pirates and Cars, how does Monster House really stack up and what is to be made of the controversy over how 'scary' the film is?
On the first note, I gave Monster House a $12 out of $15 rating on the W.I.P. Scale™. This time I am giving it a $14.50 because of the stunning technological advancements in the field of 3D animation. It is still not as good as Cars which is the film to beat for the Academy Award® for Best Animated Film this year, and it lacks the whimsical humor and overall entertainment that Pirates delivers. So, settling in at $13.25 average value placed it squarely where it probably should be overall.
As for the controversy over the PG rating vs. PG-13 and how scary the film is, that is more complicated. I'll begin by mentioning two things that pop into my mind related to the scariness of the film. First, the day before yesterday, I watched an interview with Malaysian-born British actress Shauna Macdonald was featured with her fellow cast members of the new-to-the-USA horror film, The Descent. She was asked if the film scared her and what scares her in general. She put things like this, the film didn't scare her because she doesn't go caving in real life. What really scares her are films that take place in houses, because that's where she lives. And, I thought what she said made a lot of sense because what it boils down to is that what makes something really scary is how believable it is that the situation happening to the people in the film could ever happen to you. Second, I was thinking about comments that Gil Kenan has made about the scariness of Monster House and the rating from his perspective. I recall him saying something to the effect that we, as a society, tend to underestimate kids and their ability to handle this stuff. He said something similar when interviewed by the audience after the screening in Seattle. At the time, I thought he missed the mark with that answer, but I wasn't sure why. Now I have had time to reflect more on what scared me as a child. I remember the scary witch from Disney's Sleeping Beauty like it was yesterday. Her image haunted my nightmares for years to come. I was terrified of witches. In any case, she wasn't realistically animated, and the story was barely one that I could have believed would happen to me. I did not live in a castle in the forest. Still, the images haunted me. So, with Monster House, we some of the most realistic animation ever created and a horror story about a house that comes alive and eats dogs, police officers, and children without any discrimination, and it would seem to me you have the recipe for a movie that will haunt kids' nightmares unlike any previous film. This is no garden variety scary film, and I cannot emphasize enough that parents and guardians need to exercise very good judgement in taking younger children to see the film. I would say that children under 10 will find this film too scary, and children under 7 should probably not see it at all. There is no reason to test out a child's ability or capacity to 'handle it'. See it first yourself, you know the children in you charge better than anyone else. You be the judge. Am I permanently from my early exposure to the Sleeping Beauty witch? Not that I know of, however, I did have horrible and scary dreams for about 2 years. Would I rather not have had those? Absolutely! And the house being so scary is just one aspect. Let's not forget the woman who becomes the house. She's pretty scary too!
This then brings us to the older children the 10-15 category. There is a lot in this film that I would hope those kids would not think is cool because it is in Monster House. Some of the humor is decidedly adult as you will be able to ascertain yourself if you see the movie and pay attention to when there is laughter. The boys, for example, urinate in their Mountain Dew® bottles not wanting to leave their stake out. There is an entire scene with a character billed as the smartest guy the kids know who says crass lines like "You make me want to vomit in tin foil and eat it." Huh? Why? Gross! No! Then there's the theft of many bottles of cough syrup which they boys continue to refer to as "drugs" from the pharmacy. Finally, there's the finale which has DJ doing everything he can to hurl three sticks of dynamite into the chimney to destroy the Monster House. Hopefully, no 10 to 15-year old kids will get the idea that playing with any dynamite they might someday come across is a good one. I think sometimes makers of animated films forget, because they are so engulfed in their own adult fantasy world, that their work will be pitched at kids as everything animated is despite some of it being like South Park—really a very grown up show; and, therefore, it behooves them to consider this when making their movie. Not that they shouldn't make the movie they want just that they should consider the ramifications. A PG-13 rating for this film would have struck a chord with many parents. They still might have permitted their children to see the film, but with a more informed judgment. To me, this would have been the prudent thing to do.
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Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
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Monster House Video Games • Monster House Books • Robert Zemekis films
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Review-lite [150-word cap]
Setting out to make one of the scariest animated films allowable for kids, working from a script idea cooked up by Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemekis, and using motion capture CGI, first-time director Gil Kenan unleashes the Monster House--a clever new horror mythology that harkens back to the scary house in everyone's childhood neighborhood. Monster House (voiced by Kathleen Turner), explores the coming-to-life of the house of the ultra-wicked Mr. Nebbercracker (Steve Buscemi) upon his coronary-arrest induced by pre-teens DJ's (Mitchel Musso) and Chowder's (Sam Lerner) attempt to rescue Chowder's new $29-dollar Wilson basketball from the lawn of no-return. Subsequently, they attempt to tame the beast within putting their lives and town in grave danger. Overall, Monster House delivers: great voice acting, awesomely scary premise and script, and an ending that really packs a punch. Make no mistake, parents and guardians, this is a very scary movie.
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