Monster House (www.the-usher.com)

"The House is alive?"

The house across the road from DJ (Musso) has always been a no go area. Grumpy old Mr. Nebbercracker (Buscemi) frightens the life out of anyone who even steps on his precious lawn but when DJ finally confronts him to get his best friend Chowder's (Lerner) basketball back, the old man drops dead right in front of him from the shock. Feeling extremely guilty, DJ notices that there is still someone in the house but when Chowder and him investigate they discover that there isn't someone in the house but the house itself is alive and out for revenge!

With every major studio producing computer generated animated features can a story about a possessed house take a big bite out of the animation pie?

When Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis join forces to produce an animated movie you are bound to take notice and 'Monster House' is a movie that you will want to watch. Using the same motion capture technology that Zemeckis' team pioneered in 'The Polar Express', the animators create a realistic environment for the human characters to inhabit. In fact having mostly human characters makes a refreshing change from the usual talking animals, cars or ants.

Outstanding animation is nothing without great characters and a good story and 'Monster House' has both of them in spades. The premise of a haunted house is nothing new to Hollywood movies but actually making the house itself the evil protagonist. This house is alive and very angry after the death of the person who built it and it wants revenge on the boy who it thinks caused it. Evoking the spirit of the classic 'Goonies', DJ, Chowder and Jenny are the only ones who can stop the House from hurting anyone else. It is their camaraderie that will remind older fans of the classic 1985 movie and the fact that Chowder is the new millennium's answer to Chunk. It fact there are loads of 1980s references scattered throughout the film.

The plot is like a scary story that you would tell around the campfire, with all the scares and frights that go with it. In fact at times the movie is a little too frightening for some younger viewers, as the House provides many a jumpy moment that will have even the most hardened horror fan jumping with fright. It is the sense of childhood adventure that rings true however meaning that the film will appeal to all the family and because of the combination of comedy and scares the adults will enjoy the film just as much as the kids that watch it with them.

The vocal casting is also good. Like Pixar, the movie concentrates more on performance than it does making sure which celebrity is providing the voice. Here we have classic character actors providing the voices, with most of them barely recognisable from their usual speaking voice. This is a good thing as it gives the actors the chance to create a character and not just read the lines in their own voice. Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jason Lee and Steve Buscemi are only slightly recognisable as Zee, Bones and Mr. Nebbercracker. It is the vocal performances of Mitchel Musso, Sam Lerner and Spencer Locke as DJ, Chowder and Jenny that make the film however. These are believable child characters that are easy to root for, funny and never annoying.

'Monster House' is one of the best non-Pixar animated movies to come along in a very long time. By making the lead characters human and not the usual talking animals or anything else, this allows the audience to connect with them more easily. The combination of frights and comedy also works and the addition of some brilliant computer animation, this is a family movie that you would be too scared to miss.

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1 with Dolby Digital 5.1, the movie is presented brilliantly, as you'd expect from a computer-animated release.

BONUS FEATURES

Filmmaker Commentary
Director Gil Kenan provides a decent and informative single person commentary. He reveals how the project came about and how he got involved, the story and the casting of the characters. He also talks extensively about the pioneering animation techniques used to bring the story to the silver screen and how the performance capture system allowed the voice actors to actually play their own parts.

Inside Monster House
Director Gil Kenan, producers Steve Starkey and Jack Rapke, visual effects supervisor Jay Redd, sound designer Randy Thom, executive producer Robert Zemeckis and vocal stars Mitchel Musso, Sam Lerner, Spencer Locke, Steve Buscemi, Jon Heder and Kathleen Turner take you behind the scenes of the making of 'Monster House'. Split into six sections entitled 'Imaginary Heroes', 'Beginner's Luck', 'The best of friends', 'Lots of Dots', 'Black Box Theatre', 'Making it real' and 'Did you hear that', the featurettes look at the design of the characters, casting, motion capture and the methods and software used to make 'Monster House' look so impressive.

Evolution of a Scene: Eliza vs. Nebbercracker (2.49 mins)
Director Gil Kenan introduces a multi-angle feature that will allow you to view the story reel animatic, performance capture, layout stage, animation, composite and final film, all through the push of a button.

The Art of Monster House
View conceptual art and people, places and things images from Monster House.

Trailers
Previews of 'Click', 'Open Season', 'RV', 'Zathura', 'Final Fantasy: Advent Children', 'The Benchwarmers', 'The Pursuit of Happiness' and 'Stranger than Fiction'

OVERALL

With some good featurettes and a decent commentary, this is the kind of package you would expect from a Sony release. Fans of the film should be very pleased with this DVD package.

DVD

The Goonies

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2006