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Shelf Beauties
by Willie Waffle
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Monster
House
It seems like we
are getting more animated films this year than in the past three years
combined, but this is one of them you want to see.
Mitchell
Musso
provides the voice for DJ - a boy stuck at home with a babysitter, Zee
(Maggie
Gyllenhaal), during Halloween. He figures he and his pal,
Chowder (Sam
Lerner), are too old to go trick or treating, but an adventure awaits
them
nonetheless. The crazy old man across the street,
Nebbercracker (Steve
Buscemi), has a secret to hide. DJ has noticed that his house
comes to
life and steals the bikes, balls and other possessions of boys and
girls that
end up on the front lawn. Soon, DJ is convinced the house is calling
out to
him, so he decides to crack the case and try to get to the bottom of
this
mystery.
Will DJ discover
the house's secret? Will the house get him and his friends
before he can?
Monster House is
a bit too scary for kids under the age of 8 years old, but provides wonderful,
funny and frightening entertainment for everyone else. Director Gil Kenan wonderfully captures
childhood innocence and sense of adventure, then mixes it with dire
consequences and danger to keep us on the edge of our seats as we follow our
heroes into that house. He makes the
audience want to help protect the kids, even though we know they are just
computer generated images. In many ways,
it’s reminiscent of other coming of age tales like Stand By Me, complete with a
strong script.
Writers Dan
Harmon, Rob Schrab and Pamela Pettler also deserve credit for creating vivid,
memorable characters straddling the edge of childhood and the teen years. Chowder, DJ and Jenny (Spencer Locke) share great
chemistry with each other and have some of the best dialogue exchanges you will
hear all year long (equal parts smart and funny, which helps us learn about the
characters). Plus, they face the
challenges you expect children of their age to confront as they are not little
kids anymore, but far short of being adults.
It’s a time of change reflected in almost every word spoken by the
younger characters.
Monster House is
a funny, scary and entertaining movie that falls short of being great, but
certainly qualifies as very good.
The house needs to be more magical and imaginative inside to live up to
the hype, and the conclusion goes for a more tender touch than I would have
liked, but it’s one to see this weekend with your kids.
3 Waffles
(Out Of 4)
Copyright
2006 - WaffleMovies.com
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