Co-produced by Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis, Monster House is a simple and sweet animated film about a boy named DJ (Mitchel Musso). An average teenager, DJ is troubled by a house that is opposite to his. Guarded by a dreaded old caretaker called Mr Nebbercracker (Steve Buscemi), the house is eerie, to say the least. DJ observes the house through a telescope and comes to a conclusion that it is not only haunted, it is alive.
On Halloween, the caretaker dies and the house is left unguarded. And it is 'free to eat anything or anyone who comes its way.'
With the help of his friends Chowder and Skull, DJ plans to destroy the Monster House. Whether they manage to do that does not matter. But on the process, they answer a lot of questions like if the house is really alive, what happened to Nebbercracker, and all the people that the house 'swallowed'?
That, in turn, leads to the climax of the film, which although does not seem very original, it seems fitting enough.
Directed by Gil Kenan, the film also features the voices of Maggie Gyllenhaal (Zee, the baby sitter), Kathleen Turner (Constance) and Jason Lee (Bones) among others.
Monster House reminded me of the kind of campfire stories we told each other on a dark night, when I was a child -- even like R L Stines' Goosebumps
The film is the only other film after Zemeckis's not-so-great Polar Express. Abroad, the film is being promoted as a 3D movie experience.
The movie has a strong Spielberg touch. DJ is a lot like Elliot from ET. His face, eyes and expressions give a sense of déjà vu. The neighborhood where DJ lives is also similar to Elliot's. Even certain situations correspond to those from ET -- where DJ's parents don't believe him when he says that the house is haunted, when DJ kisses a girl for the first time and there is even a Halloween scene!
The movie is not a must-watch like Toy Story 2 or Shrek. But it's good. And quite scary.
Rediff Rating: 
