Monster House

Since it's the Halloween season, I thought I'd review some Halloween themed animated movies! Since I already reviewed Hotel Transylvania last year, I looked up some more & I must say I'm surprised with how many there are! The first one I'm doing is Monster House, released back in 2006 & was Robert Zemeckis' next film after the success of The Polar Express. Now, I hadn't seen this in cinemas since it looked pretty scary, but I did ironically have the Game Boy Advance game of it which I never finished cos of how complicated the controls were. It was still crap, but anyway, starring Hannah Montana actor Mitchell Musso, Spencer Locke (Jane in that crap motion capture Tarzan movie), Steve Buscemi (Nucky Thompson from Boardwalk Empire) & Maggie Gyllenhaal, the film ended up being nominated for an Oscar against Happy Feet & Cars, but lost to the former. On a brighter note, it did earn back twice it's budget & is slowly growing a cult following! So can this film confront my fear of haunted houses, or is it as mediocre as the other Robert Zemeckis motion capture films? Let's find out!

Story: Considering how this film was aimed for kids, it's surprisingly dark! And it's not just because of the freaky imagery & atmosphere that plagues the film, but also because of the main themes. The central themes are actually done pretty well like growing up/puberty, loss/death, love & sacrifice, all of this shown through the characters DJ & Nebbercracker. I enjoy how much deeper the reasons for Nebbercracker being a grumpy jerk is & it has perfect opportunities for heartwarming moments, which it thankfully does (especially the flashback with Nebbercracker & his wife before she died) & it's executed pretty well. There are times where they put in comedy to make it less scary for kids & it can be pretty funny (i.e. the 'It's a girl's school' bit made me chuckle a bit) If I did have some flaws with the story, it would be the tonal shift between the comedy & the drama, especially shown through the character Chowder with some pretty crude jokes, attempts at adult humour, some of the characters acting like idiots & the climax is pretty silly with the house going on a rampage throughout the town & it feels like it was just there for some huge fight scene because the movie was into the third act. Despite them flaws, I don't have that many gripes with the plot since it's clear what the focus is on despite the tonal shift & it's executed well most of the time.

 

Animation: Since my thoughts on motion capture aren't all that great, I must say, this isn't all that bad! Instead of the character designs looking too realistic, they're given a much more stylized look with more caricatured features to avoid the eyes looking pretty much dead most of the time. The character animation is of course fluid & very realistic, but thankfully it's not as distracting as others like Mars Needs Moms or that Jim Carey A Christmas Carol film. The freaky imagery actually fits with the tone of the film & I do like the designs of the interior of the house to make everyday things look like the face like a carpet as the tongue, trees are arms & even the furnace being a heart. Even the town the characters live in has creepy old fashioned style to it! However, there are some issues I hav & it's mostly because of the texturing. It looks a bit too plastic-y, especially on the skin & clothes of the characters. But other than that, the animation done on this is pretty solid given that my relationship with motion capture films is pretty frosty at best.

 

Characters: When it comes to the characters, it's a very mixed bag! DJ, voiced by Mitchell Musso, is really the cliched nerdy kid Chowder is probably the worst character from the film as he's a jerk to his best friend, risks their lives, tries to get with Jenny even though it's obvious she likes DJ & says crude & annoying jokes! Token annoying side character fit to a T! Anyway, Jenny, voiced by Spencer Locke, may seem like the token girl/love interest, but she's shown to be smart, funny at times & her little romance with DJ is thankfully just a tiny subplot & they stay friends by the end. Mr Nebbercracker, voiced by Steve Buscemi, is probably the best character in the film as while he is seemingly an grumpy, angry old man, is actually doing it to protect other people thanks to the ghost of his wife attacking anyone & wanting to keep him forever. His development is very well done & Buscemi's performance is pretty amazing considering how big the age difference is between him & his character! There's also Zee, voiced by Maggie Gyllenhaal, who's pretty much a massive bitch towards DJ despite being his babysitter & never comes back after she sees Jenny. Seriously, she only appears during a post credits scene! Her boyfriend Bones, voiced by Jason Lee (AKA Syndrome) was just a creepy ass who looks like he's high all the time & is the first to be eaten by the house! Skull, voiced by John Heder, is just there to give exposition about the house so DJ can find a way to stop the house & is pretty much a lazy game addict who somehow gets with Zee during the post credit scene! The policemen voiced by Kevin James & Nick Cannon don't do much besides be strawmen who don't believe the kids at first but it comes back to bite them in the ass later & DJ's parents only appear at the beginning & the end of the film & don't do anything to progress the plot other than for DJ to have a reason & opportunity to investigate the house. Anyway, there's also Constance, voiced by Jessica Rabbit herself Kathleen Turner, Nebbercracker's wife who was in a circus due to her large size until he freed her & died when the house was under construction thanks to going in a rage when kids were making fun of her. Overall, it's a mix of good & bad characters either being likeable, annoying, funny or never mentioned again!

Thought I'd show you a bit of the motion capture process used from the film! Not sure I'd be able to take it seriously if I had to wear what looks like a wetsuit with dots all over my face!

Monster House may not be the best animated Halloween movie, but it's still better than the other Robert Zemeckis stop motion films out there. Heck, it's probably the best one! The story is kinda creative with nice themes despite some tonal shifts, the animation is good & some characters are likeable! I would recommend giving this a watch since the good things do make it worth watching, but just don't expect it to be the best Halloween animated film out there!
Story: 7/10
Animation: 7/10
Characters: 6/10
Overall: 7/10