US (2006): Animation/Comedy/Family/Fantasy/Mystery
Monster House is a curiosity. Way too dark and scary for the kiddies, this PG-rated "motion capture" animation film is a misconceived attempt to create a family-friendly version of Poltergeist, with tween protagonists battling a malevolent haunted house in a strangely empty suburban neighborhood.
Only 12-year-old DJ Walters (Mitchel Musso) seems to notice the creepy goings-on across the street at the home of Nebbercracker (Steve Buscemi), a scary old recluse. Any stray basketball or toy that lands in Nebbercracker's front yard disappears, apparently sucked into the house, which seems eerily alive.
Of course, none of the grown-ups believes a word of DJ's outlandish claims about Mr. Nebbercracker's house, and his surly babysitter, Zee (Maggie Gyllenhaal), is too busy partying with her loser boyfriend, Bones (Jason Lee), to give him the time of day. As for Chowder (Sam Lerner), DJ's chubby blowhard of a friend, he's more interested in trick-or-treating than paranormal sleuthing. (Much of the action takes place on Halloween.) That changes, however, when Jenny (Spencer Locke-Bonney), the object of both boys' affection, nearly gets swallowed up by the house. Heeding the questionable advice of video game champion/slacker Skull (Jon Heder), DJ, Chowder, and Jenny summon their courage to sneak inside the house while Nebbercracker's away and shut down its heart - the basement furnace.
While it has some spectacular set pieces and dollops of goofy, wisecracking humor, Monster House rests on such a flimsily constructed narrative framework that it starts collapsing in on itself, long before the predictably over-the-top conclusion. -- Tim Knight, reel.com
Written by Dan Harmon & Rob Schrab and Pamela Pettier; directed by Gil Kenan. (Sony Pictures - Web site)
1 nomination
·Achievement in Animated Feature Films 2006: Gil Kenan