around my house movie ratings go based on whether we want to own the dvd or not once it is released. after watching monster house i think i could watch it again for a rental but i don’t know that i would want to own it. i thought the beginning was slow and a little boring. it picked up in the middle and the end was quite good. i liked the twist that the movie had and how they pulled it off.

it’s worth watching but i’m not sure owning it would be worth the $19.

I took my daughter to the movies this afternoon, unfortunately, I fell asleep on this one… I did like the beginning which was a nice fall scene and a girl on a trike. The ending was not what I expected…

This latest in motion-capture animation technology (popularized by “The Polar Express”) is visually impressive and can be compared to a roller coaster ride or perhaps a combination roller coaster/haunted mansion ride in thrills. When the movie opens, we follow a single falling leaf as it weaves its way through an idyllic suburb and follows a young girl riding her tricycle and merrily singing…until she lands on the lawn of a particular house that is. Here we are introduced to “Monster House” owner and hermit Nebbercracker (Steve Buscemi), known for terrorizing children and confiscating their toys when they land on his lawn. Things go no differently for this girl as the old man destroys and takes her tricycle, sending her running away in tears. Across the street, 12-year-old DJ (Mitchel Musso) observes through his telescope and records Nebbercracker’s latest conquest in a log. When Nebbercracker’s tantrums finally result in a heart attack, the house itself continues his job, seemingly embodying his spirit as it engulfs objects that land on its lawn and swallows people that threaten it. Only DJ, his buddy Chowder (Sam Lerner) and their new ally Jenny (Spencer Locke) are privy to the house’s gruesome behavior and are determined to infiltrate, discover its secrets and ultimately end its rampage.

The movie sets the viewer up with the capabilities and characteristics of the house, and as the house’s mysteries are revealed, becomes more about delivering moments of suspense, thrills and action. When the children finally enter and “battle” the house, there are intense moments; but these only warranted momentary hand-squeezing from the eight year-old and didn’t even faze the twelve year-old who I had brought with me. The most intense moment involves DJ coming face to face with a mummified corpse. The movie is fast paced though the action can at times seem unrelenting. Overall, “Monster House” is a well-constructed movie that may be too intense for very young children and just edgy and visually stunning enough for adults. I highly recommend watching it in 3D and think that it would make a great Halloween alternative to attending a live haunted house (which may be higher on the cheese than thrill factor).

I didn’t like it. Not enough to give it a bad rating, because there were some good things, but on the whole, I just didn’t enjoy this film. I thought the animated people were grotesque (which was surely deliberate, but I thought they were ugly and didn’t enjoy them), and the story was interesting, but predicatable and I found myself wishing that the film would just finish already, for pete’s sake. The house itself was well-done, though, and the movie was intense. So much so that I’m not surprised to hear that loads of little children are being scared out of their wits by it, and people are complaining about the fact that this is marketed as a children’s film. In fact, when I bought the tickets yesterday (I was there with my seven-year-old son), the ticket guy actually warned me that I might want to think twice about taking him to see it. (My son wasn’t at all scared by it, though – he enjoyed it a lot).

The opening scene as it follows fall leaves and a little girl riding her tricycle eventually past a white picket fence, which reminded me of Blue Velvet and somehow seems out of place in a kids film, was the highlight for me, it’s funny (her singing specificially) and well-animated. The rest is pretty much a formula.