Monster House [Blu-ray]

Monster House [Blu-ray]
by Gil Kenan

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DVD details

Actor: Catherine O'Hara, Fred Willard, Mitchel Musso, Ryan Newman (III), Steve Buscemi
Director: Gil Kenan
Brand: Sony
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Original Language); Korean (Original Language); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled); Chinese (Subtitled); Thai (Subtitled); Korean (Subtitled); French (Dubbed)
Format: Anamorphic, Animated, Color, Dolby, Subtitled
Picture Format: 2.40:1
Running Time: 91 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-10-24
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Columbia Pictures

DVD Reviews of Monster House [Blu-ray]

DVD Review: This sucks.
Summary: 1 Stars

Much too frightening to show younger kids. I would imagine the cheesy animation wouldn't be very appealing to older kids. Much too long. Boring story. Lame characters.
I'm not sure who the intended audience is for this film. Basically it's a vehicle for fat prejudice. "Chowder" gets called porky and chubby. The "monster" is a big fat woman who is shall we say...as big as a house. Nice.

DVD Review: Scarier Than it Looks
Summary: 4 Stars

Beware of the innocent-looking cover on the DVD case. This animated movie has some pretty scary moments in it that might be too scary for younger children.

As for the story itself, DJ's parents have just went away for a few days, leaving DJ in the care of Elizabeth, or "Z" as she prefers to be called. Z is not your typical teenage girl; she's into the Goth scene and has a boyfriend named Bones. But these are the least of DJ's problems. He's more concerned about the strange man across the street who lives in a dilapidated old house. Objects are mysteriously disappearing from the front yard, and old man Nebbercracker is constantly warning kids to stay away. DJ's best friend Chowder even loses his new basketball on the lawn. What can be causing all of these strange occurances?

The answer is soon revealed as Jenny, a young girl selling candy, knocks on DJ's door. After being turned down by DJ, she goes across the street to Nebbercracker's house. But the house itself mysteriously comes to life and tries to suck Jenny in. Jenny soon joins up with DJ and Chowder to try to discover what's going on in the house. However, the police foil their attempt to get inside. They are placed in the police car to be taken away when the house comes alive and sucks the car with the children inside. Now that they have managed to get inside, will they be able to get back out again?

I found this movie to be somewhat scarier than I expected. Even though the film is animated, there are some genuinely scary parts that may not be suitable for young children. Also, there are some questionable scenes, such as Bones and Z making out a little on the sofa, and Chowder talking about drinking beer. Finally, there's the classic pee in the soda bottle scene.

Overall, I did find this movie to be pretty good. I liked the storyline of the house coming to life, and the animation is very good. However, I would just caution parents with young children to make sure that they view the movie together. My five-year-old daughter was very scared for most of the movie, and she watched it with us plus her older brother and sister. So, watch this movie with care if there are young children present.

DVD Review: A Cool Movie!
Summary: 5 Stars

I just watched it last night. "Old man Nebbercracker"is a spooky old man - at first. Every body's got a monster house in their neighborhood!

DVD Review: Disapointment
Summary: 2 Stars

This dvd was full of things not suitable for children. There were kids drinking and asking about getting a beer. Vague refrences about one child's parent having an afair. This could have been a decent movie, instead hollywood needed to make it edgy so people would think it's great. It was a disapointment.

DVD Review: Rare Quality Animation Film
Summary: 4 Stars

Great story, great animation, great presentation. Monster House is the type of animation that draws you in so much that it does not feel like an animated film. I am surprised they didn't attempt to make this a live action movie. Style very reminiscent of The Goonies. I love the reviews who complain the movie is "too much for those under 13"...funny, the MPAA has a rating system...it is rated PG. On the same note, the movie has some deep and creepy undertones. Again, no more so than some of the great "young adult" movies that exist. This movie is a definite recommendation. Not as fast paced as most of the animated fare out there...that's because this one actually makes you think and care about the characters. Four solid stars!

Description of Monster House [Blu-ray]

Even for a 12-year old, D.J. Walters has a particularly overactive imagination. He is convinced that his haggard and crabby neighbor Horace Nebbercracker, who terrorizes all the neighborhood kids, is responsible for Mrs. Nebbercracker's mysterious disappearance. Any toy that touches Nebbercracker's property, promptly disappears, swallowed up by the cavernous house in which Horace lives. D.J. has seen it with his own eyes! But no one believes him, not even his best friend, Chowder. What everyone does not know is D.J. is not imagining things. Everything he's seen is absolutely true and it's about to get much worse than anything D.J could have imagined.

The spooky shadows and eerie creaking of a rickety old house are brought to life via lush CGI in Monster House. A young boy named DJ has suspicions about the house across the street and the cranky old man (voiced by Steve Buscemi, Fargo) who lives there. When the old man has a heart attack and is carried away by an ambulance, DJ thinks the danger is over. Unfortunately, as he, his friend Chowder, and a candy-selling prep-school girl named Jenny discover, the house itself has plans--plans that include eating all the kids who'll be trick-or-treating that Halloween night. Monster House begins with some deliciously creepy scenes that will send chills down children's spines (and may be too intense for younger viewers); animated movies rarely make such effective use of what isn't being shown. The animation is vivid and detailed (though CGI still has a ways to go in capturing the full range of human facial expressions). But like most horror movies, the anticipation of horror is much more exciting than the horror itself; as the secrets of Monster House are revealed, the movie's thrills unravel. The noisy explosions at the end aren't half as much fun as the slow twitches of a few blades of grass in the movie's elegant beginning. --Bret Fetzer

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