Film Reviews

Monster House

• Rating:
• Director: Gil Kenan
• Starring: Steve Buscemi
• Details: US, 91mins, PG.

The Nebbercracker house across the road from DJ's (Musso) was always a bit eerie and he and his portly best friend Chowder (Lerner) keep a safe distance from it. When the crotchety owner, old Mr Nebbercracker (Buscemi), suffers a heart attack and goes to the hospital, the adventurous duo decide to investigate. It's not long before spooky stuff start to creep the boys out and when DJ's babysitter's deadhead boyfriend (Jason Lee) gets swallowed up by the house and is soon followed by two policemen, the boys rope in ambitious do-goody Jenny (Spencer Locke) to get to the bottom of it.
If you liked the dark humour of The 'burbs and wild sense of childlike adventure in The Goonies then Monster House is the one for you. Monster House pushes its PG rating to the max as it contains more jumps and scares than in a live action feature, Buscemi's Nebbercracker is genuinely freaky and resembles Gollum's mad uncle, the transformation of the house would give you the chills and even though it's a kid's animation you start whispering to yourself 'don't go in there'. Starting off slow, Monster House gains pace and seems to enjoy the out of control momentum it creates. It also gets funnier as it goes on, as Lerner's quips will have you sniggering and the nervy, rookie cop is a comic delight. The down points are that the dialogue lacks pacing in places and we are teased with a great character like seasoned gamer Reginald 'Skull' Skulinski (voiced by Jon Heder) only far him to disappear soon after. It's unfair to introduce a character with "Legend has it he played a game for four days straight on one quarter with a gallon of chocolate milk and an adult diaper" and then not use him. But maybe that's the beauty of it - it leaves you wanting more. Monster House has been described as a family animation mystery fantasy comedy adventure. I guess that's everything then.

Review by Gavin Burke