Lily R. (filmnerd)

I don't remember hearing about this movie when it came out a few years ago, so I'm a bit late jumping on the bandwagon to sing its praises. What a terrific film! It restores my faith in Hollywood's ability to make good children's movies that are actually for children. So many kid flicks today are filled with tongue-in-cheek humor and in-jokes for the adults that they often forget their target audience, the kids. Monster House recognizes that good writing can make audiences of any age laugh, without patronizing the kids or boring adults. It makes the smart move of having the main characters be around 12 or 13 years old, just old enough to have dialog that is amusing for the adult, and yet still young enough to incorporate the fantasy world of children. The animation of the main characters is a bit stiff for my taste, but the house is so excellently done that you won't mind much. The story is sufficiently creepy for a movie set around Halloween, maybe a bit too creepy for very young viewers, but kids older than 10 should be able to handle it. The main characters are quite good, especially lovable Chowder, sort of a cross between Chunk from the Goonies and Jerry O'Connell's character from Stand By Me. Overall, a great movie, even a little better than what you would expect from a Spielberg/Zemeckis animated production.

It's got everything you could want: gore, sex, violence, humor, drama, style, suspense, good soundtrack, what more could you ask for?