During the mid-2000's, the use of motion capture has been polarizing by the film industry with multiple actors and filmmakers proclaiming how it will one day be rid of live-action films due to the blending of live actors and animation. When Robert Zemeckis made his first fully motion-capture film with "The Polar Express" in 2004, the film was criticized for the way they handled the animation. While some of the characters look lifelike, others looked ugly and creepy. On top of that, the film was too cartoony at times to break the illusion of the realistic animation. So, when Zemeckis produced the next fully stop-motion animated film, they will make it both distinct and unique for the medium, even if the film itself failed to live up to box-office expectations. "Monster House" follows DJ, a 12-year old boy who spends his time hanging out with his immature friend, Chowder, and spying on the old, cranky neighbour across the street, Mr. Nebbercracker. After an incident where DJ seemingly killed Nebbercracker via a heart attack, DJ notices strange things soon after with calls from his house coming from across the street, people disappearing, and the house itself becoming alive and trying to eat anyone who approaches it. With the help of Chowder and a girl named Jenny, the three must learn how to stop this evil house before Halloween night to avoid having more people eaten. The story is very much like "Goosebumps" and "Stranger Things" blended together to have a family-friendly approach to a scary idea, which works for fans of those type of stories about adolescent kids fighting monster or ghosts as they learn to grow up or harbour the inner childhood in them. The film is not deep in regards to themes or character growth per se, but it does have some great lore in regards to Nebbercracker and the house. The tone is far more childish than a show like "Stranger Things". Aside from the backstory regarding the house, the story is actually quite tame as no one actually dies or carry a huge sense of dread or suspense, which also explains the lack of big character depth or growth. You could say that it's just trying to be like "Goosebumps" in a family-friendly approach, but even those books can get really dark and screwed up at times. At the very least, the story and tone tries to be creative in the silly concept and character interaction, which is explained by the approach of humour. Not all of the jokes work as Chowder can be a bit annoying when he makes weird noises or screams, but I like how the humour is mainly by the characters trying to work off each other as well as the ridiculous concept of a killer house.
DJ is the typical child protagonist who is a bit awkward in his age and struggles to convince those around him of the house because of it. The arc revolving how he wants to be seen as mature is here and there, but it's only to just add to the otherwise generic lead. Chowder is the immature best friend who is picked on by the adults and he's considered a scaredy cat and screwup. Even though I think his antics can get a bit annoying, I actually think he's the funniest character in the film. The chemistry between DJ and Chowder is very much like Greg and Rowley from "Diary of a Wimpy Kid". In fact, these characters debuted before those books came out, which is even stranger as the character designs and personalities are eerily the same. It also helps that the child actors they got to play as these characters work off so well with each other. Jenny is the witty, academic girl who is basically forced to team up with the boys after nearly being eaten by the house. Once again, the personality and voice actress really helps in the interactions and chemistry with DJ and Chowder as the two boys are competing with each other for her attention. Nebbercracker, played by Steve Buscemi, seems like the evil, grouchy neighbour who hates kids, but turns out to be a man who's lost his wife due to being so kindhearted and has to shut himself off to the world upon learning of the house's nature. I love the face-heel turn aspect of the character and how he has to suffer for decades with his reputation in order to protect people from being eaten. While the character's morality is well-handled and Buscemi does a fantastic vocal performance, the execution of DJ willing to save the neighbour he once feared becomes a bit weird as it almost makes him act as if he is in love with the skinny, old man. As for the side characters, they play off of the horror tropes with a comedic filter. Maggie Gyllenhaal as Zee, DJ's babysitter, is the typical mean teenaged caretaker who, despite being prominent for the first half of the film, never gets involved with the plot as the kids make her keep away from the house. Kevin James and Nick Cannon as the two police officers that prove unhelpful work great off each other with James as the bumbling police chief and Cannon as the rookie cop who wants to get into some action and instantly believes about what horror lies in the house. Jason Lee as Bones, Zee's boyfriend, is enjoyable for what little we see of him despite having the ugliest character model of the film. Jon Heder as Skull is perfect casting for the weird nerd who steals the one scene he's in as he offers advice for the kids on how to stop the house. Catherine O'Hara and the late Fred Willard work as DJ's parents who just think their son's puberty is to blame for his paranoid behaviour, who remain mostly absent for the movie. Lastly, there's Constance, played by Kathleen Turner, the deceased wife of Nebbercracker who hates children due to how they make fun of her obese state. For the most part, the characters tend to really work thanks to their personalities and the talent they got to play as them. The weakest character might have to be DJ, his parents, and Zee in regards to the former's generic personality and the latter characters being practically useless or unimportant in the narrative as neither get involved, help out the kids or get eaten by the house. Regardless, I'm actually surprised that all of the characters are quite likeable, even if they are mostly cliched.
The use of motion-capture in this film is by far the most strangest aspect of the animation. Instead of having the characters realistically rendered, they are designed as if they were stop-motion/claymation characters, similar to the films by Laika or Aardman. However, the characters themselves move in a far more realistic matter as usual for motion-capture animation. This choice in the animation may make or break the film for people. Personally, I think the animation works at not making the movie uncanny. After all, the film is a horror-comedy with over-the-top sequences. If the characters were realistic-looking, it would harm the film's aesthetic and can be prone to animation errors. While the character's hair and clothes can feel flat and plastic-like, they did try to add some additional detail on the skin that works in a subtle way. The animation in general is also well done in regards to both the gothic atmosphere and some of the surrealist moments such as DJ's nightmare and Nebbercracker's flashback. The film isn't filled with vibrant colours, but has effective mood colours and shadows to give off the creepy setting and Halloween cosmetic. The house itself looks very much like a creation from a Laika film in regards to the texture, design and animation. I love how the front of the face makes a face with various objects representing different body parts. The house manages to have legit character at times as it can be hostile or sad and the final form during the climax is extremely creative in making a destroyed house a creepy and dangerous monster design. The only true issue of the animation is that the environment the kids live in feels extremely deserted. I'm not sure if it's a script issue or budget problem, but not only is there a lack of background characters in the film, but it seems the entire town is abandoned on Halloween night when the house uproots itself for the climax. It's a pretty big plot hole that can be pretty hard to overlook for the film. As for the music by Douglas Pipes, it's your over-the-top, dramatic, gothic haunted house music for the most part, which does fit the tone of the film. The best part of the score has to be the theme in regards to Constance and Nebbercracker's flashback. It does give off some Danny Elfman vibes, but I like the music that mixes sad, happy, and anxiety-driven beats to fit the depressing storyline of the couple's lives. Overall, despite its odd choice of animation aesthetic, "Monster House" manages to be the second best looking motion-capture film, only behind the flawless "The Adventures of Tintin".
"Monster House" is a strange film in the animated wasteland that was 2006. While it might be a bit childish in approach to the horror-comedy genre in regards to its themes and humour, some characters can be either generic or useless in the overall film, DJ's obsession with Nebbercracker can be quite weird and questionable, and the limitations of the animation or script forces the neighbourhood and town to be extremely barren and kind of unrealistically empty during the climax, the film offers so much energy, charm and quality that's fairly unique for its medium and genre. The story is effective as a creepy children's adventure, the humour can be enjoyable mainly thanks to the zany characters and the interactions between each other, the three kid characters are likeable and work really well off one another in regards to the chemistry and comedy, Buscemi as Nebbercracker gives off a great performance to the most interesting and dramatic character of the film, the side characters work in regards to the humour and cliched archetypes of the film, the claymation character designs help in making the motion-capture movements fluent, the animation as a whole offers a great sense of atmosphere and stop-motion aesthetic, the titular monster house is fantastically animated and imaginatively designed, and the music by Pipes plays off on the genre and mood of the film. Could it have far more potential to be one of the best horror-comedies, especially written by the guys that would later write "Rick & Morty"? For sure. But for what it is, it's a fun and interesting movie that is far better than the competition it had at the Oscars with"Cars" and "Happy Feet".
Verdict: 7.5/10. Really good family-friendly horror romp, but could have been more beloved by fixing some issue regarding the tone and animation. An undeserved snub from the Oscar akin to "Over the Hedge".
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