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MONSTER HOUSE, The 3D Animated Movie
Reviewed by Cartoonist Jeff Swenson
The feel of the eighties scary adventure thriller is back in animated form. Kids may not realize the tribute but those of us who were graduating in the late eighties will.
The Monster House will eat you alive.
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It was by pure chance that I happened to see this film, otherwise I might not have seen it until it came out on Cable or DVD. This last weekend was hot as hell here in Washington State and on Sunday I couldn't take it anymore. Where I live there is no air-conditioning and trying to draw and ink in extreme heat is frustrating and exhausting. The ink dries up, you sweat on the paper making it curl and your hands stick to the drawing board and paper so it's harder to do line work which requires moving the entire arm smoothly. Enough was enough, on Sunday I planned to go out with my woman (she hates it when I call her "woman"), get a meal and hang out at an air-conditioned theater--then come back and do my work at night when it was cooler.
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Being M. Night Shyamalan fans, my wife and I had planned to see Lady In The Water but we just missed it. The second best option was Monster House. I was a little hesitant because I hadn't read any reviews and with the new excrement of 3D films being pushed out I knew it could be bad or mildly amusing. At least it wasn't an animal film--how many friggin' 3D animal films are coming out? Seems like a lot from the previews. I blame this all on Disney and those trying to get a piece of Disney's action. Disney should just run their amusement parks, kill an occasional kid on one of their rides and leave the 3d animation to Pixar (who I lovingly call Disney's Bitch). Pixar has vision and that vision is profitable. When Disney takes the reins it feels like a bunch of executives all forced their two cents in and you get a muddled mess that doesn't have the fun of a director who is trying to recapture his childhood.
Monster House, I must say without having been a fanboy who read up on the making of the film beforehand, is a tribute to Spielberg, Lucas, Zemeckis, Joe Dante, and any other director in the eighties who created those cheesy but fondly remembered films that scared us and thrilled us but didn't fall into the slasher or gore genre. Films like Gremlins and Goonies with young actors and those old-school special effects that I miss. I even noticed that the old Amblin film logo was used in the beginning to represent Spielberg, a logo I haven't seen in awhile as I mostly associate Spielberg with Dreamworks Pictures these days.
Monster House doesn't just hold nostalgia for us grown-ups, it works for the kiddies of today too who may not give a poop about the past because it's all about the here and now as far as they're concerned. I would advise that this 3D movie might be a bit intense for really young viewers, though I'm of the opinion that it is good for kids to see scary movies because it can be a way for them to psychologically prepare themselves for the real world. Kind of like when two kittens tussle but don't hurt each other. Their playfighting prepares them for the violence they may encounter as adult cats. With humans we deal with violence on a physical and mental level. Horror movies are a training ground for that mental level.
The movie starts out with an all too familiar scene of the small town neighborhood, a benchmark of Spielberg films and Spielberg produced films. My wife noted that once she saw the orange-colored leaves littering the simple streets that she knew it was going to take place during the Halloween season. A little girl on her tricycle rides along the sidewalk until she finds herself stuck on a grassy lawn, overshadowed by a large house in need of a paint job and repair. The little girl screams as an elderly man looking like Gollum from LOTR emerges and chases her away by confiscating her tricycle and tearing off the tire. As an adult I'm thinking I would arrest the man or sue for damages; as a kid I think I would find this event very horrific. |
Chowder |
DJ |
Jenny (girls can be so smug) |
At this point I was still unsure if this movie was going to be any good. It wasn't until the character of "Chowder" showed up that suddenly I gave in to the story and left any cynicism I had towards the current crop of 3D movies behind. Chowder reminds you of Chunk from The Goonies. I have to say that Sam Lerner, the kid who did the acting behind the character, was brilliantly funny. From the first time he appeared on screen I was laughing.
Next you throw in the serious adventurer DJ and of course a love interest named Jenny and you have a trio that can play off of each other. Especially since both DJ and Chowder are vying for the affections of Jenny even as the supernatural elements of the story increase. It was certainly possible that with these archetypes that we would have had some boring, repetitive character scenes. Fortunately that's not-so. The characterization builds on the past and finds its way to being original in numerous instances.
That is actually what this entire film is about: building on the past. Without giving out the year, the look of the film is very much "The Eighties". The storyline itself is nothing original; the same old haunted house theme, the same old kids will save the day because the adults don't have a clue theme. There is nothing new here whatsoever except for the filmmaking technology of doing an entire 3D film with motion capture. Why does it work?
It's my opinion, as a creator and artist, there really isn't anything truly original. Creative types build on the past. If they were influenced by Vincent Price movies they may grow up to be Tim Burton. If they were influenced by adventure serials they might grow up to be George Lucas. I can find pieces of any film director's work in the past no matter how much their "originality" is lauded. And this is not a criticism, this is a statement of fact. Artists and writers are influenced by what they read and watched in their childhood. Monster House isn't original, but has original twists on earlier ideas.
And the entire film feels like the director was enjoying himself. We see all of the cliches but they're done in a new, refreshing manner. It is a childhood revisited film for adults that doesn't have to apologize for borrowing from the past because it didn't repeat the past, it built upon the existing ideas and in some cases outdid the past. An example being the character Chowder which made me laugh more than I did at Chunk from Goonies.
I wish I could have seen this film in 3D, my nearby theater isn't cool enough for that. If you can get out this coming weekend I'd grab the kids and go before this one disappears to DVD--this is one movie that is enjoyed on the big screen (unless you're one of those bastards with the megalith widescreen at home). Even if you don't have kids, I'd do it for the kid inside you that you now neglect in order to face adulthood. This is good old-fashioned fun without any annoying hip-hop/rapcore/rock soundtrack and characters that delight. And let's not forget that the animation is pretty damn cool. Highly recommended. |
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