Monster House

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Movie Details

• Genre: Action/Adventure, Animation, Family
• Release Date: 2006-07-21 Nationwide
• Running Time: 91 min.
• Director: Gil Kenan
• Cast: Steve Buscemi, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mitchel Tate Musso, Jon Heder, Kevin James, Jason Lee, Sam Lerner, Spencer Locke, Catherine O'Hara, Kathleen Turner
• Producer: Jack Rapke, Steve Starkey, Jason Clark
• Writer: Gil Kenan, Dan Harmon, Rob Schrab, Pamela Pettler
• Distributor: Sony Pictures Releasing
• Official Site: Monster House Official Site

In this latest kiddie extravaganza from executive producers Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis, millions of dollars and long hours in the digital animation suites have produced...a generic American suburb! (Location costs must be getting pretty expensive these days.) The plot isn't much: Youngsters "DJ" (voiced by Mitchel Musso), "Chowder" (Sam Lerner), and Jenny (Spencer Locke) are intimidated by a creepy old man named Nebbercracker (Steve Buscemi) and his frightening old house, which seems to consume toys left carelessly on its lawn. When Nebbercracker appears to have a heart attack, the house gets even spookier, acting autonomously and making scary "faces" with its windows, door, and porch. Eventually the kids go inside, and the movie more or less copies the climaxes of every Harry Potter epic as the hero, heroine, and their goofy friend face a variety of supernatural trials. In the absence of tension, the coolest thing about Monster House is that Kathleen Turner's face was motion-captured to create the house's expressions, resulting in what is perhaps the most wooden performance of all time. (Luke Y. Thompson)