Monday, July 24, 2006

Monster House

Best movie of the summer. Period. The script, the pacing -- Gil Kennan is a genius.

Seriously. Best of the summer, possibly the year (for this genre, not generally). Go.

70 comments:

Anonymous said...

I already saw it. That was great movie, though it might have been too scary for the age group it was aimed at. I know that my little sister had nightmares after the movie. Also, since I know that you are also a DnD nerd, I so want my players to fight an animated house now.

wcdixon said...

Agreed - very slick flick - my kids are 10 and were scared just the right amount...but saw several families leave with younger children.

R. K. Bentley said...

Went to Clerks II then walked into Monster House and it felt like watching Goonies/BBTF/Poltergiest all over again.

Movie really kicked ass. Rob Schab of Scub Disposable Assasain comic boom fame is credited as one of the writers on the script.

Highly recommended.

I found it really odd that they could have debut this in October and it probably would have still be the talk of the town.

Instead, it's the first of two CGI Flicks of July, second being Ant Bully that comes out the end of this week and it's one of a half dozen CGI movies just for this year alone.

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't go that far. It's fun but very, very forgettable. The beer line killed me.

I was in the top row, so maybe that's why the 3D didn't do anything for me. The only bit that I dug was the dream where the shadow went crazy.

Unknown said...

I gotta disagree, Ben. The ending sequence is as beautifully choreographed as anything done this year -- particularly the flaccid Pirates -- and there are a bunch of really snappy bits, especially for a kids movie. I found some parts of it quite emotionally affecting.

Anonymous said...

I don't think this is an issue of right or wrong, but a matter of opinion. My wording earlier implies otherwise, but there's something of a disconnect between this film and some of the more soulful and effective Amblin films from the '80s. I'm not sure if I'm just wired to hate motion capture (although, my hatred for Polar Express is probably born out of my complete disbelief that they made a one act movie) or if the film does have a dead feeling to it. I enjoyed a lot of it, and I dug their desire to break the "rules" of the family genre. But it felt a little too superficial and like a product. More We're Back than American Tale. I think I just typed a shitload of gibberish, but at the moment it makes sense to me.

I will say that Buscemi's character had a lot of humanity and the resolution of the love triangle was pretty fucking awesome. There's something great about films where characters end up friends with someone they wouldn't give the time of day to in the beginning.

I just feel like Gil Kenan, in interviews at least, is preaching to the choir in what he's trying to achieve as a filmmaker...but Monster House isn't on par with the films he's emulating. I felt like this would have actually worked much better as a live-action film. They'd never be able to execute some of the more elaborate sequences in a way that would seem completely in tune with the rest of the film, but I think you'd be able to empathize with it more.

And I really don't think Pirates 2 is flaccid in any way, shape, or form. There's a reason people are digging it and seeing it over and over again. They've seemingly cracked the code of the genre, and mixed the best elements of Army of Darkness and Indiana Jones into a cohesive and fucking entertaining whole. Plus, the action is the right kind of Looney Tunes.

Even if the opening half hour is a bit balls.

Anonymous said...

I took my 8 year old to see it on a sneak preview. It was pretty scary in the opening bit, but not very scary at all after that. Overall, HE liked the movie, but my wife was bored, and I was on the fence. Hate to disagree with you, Rogers, but I didn't think it was all that great. The funny bits are too few and far between, and you've seen almost all of them in the ads already. Additionally, the villain is oversold in the first act, and the big reveal is no surprise at all if you're over 13 and have seen a few movies.

Anyway, my main point is that it's a perfectly adequate kid flick, but for the adults there isn't much there other than the amazing animation and the perfect "stunt casting."

MaryAn Batchellor said...

It was brilliant.

Unknown said...

Pirates cracked the code? Oh sweet Jesus no. And the opening HOUR is balls. And the numbers don't support the "people seeing it again and again" idea -- that's why the falloffs are so huge. Big first weekend -- a byproduct of the excellent first film -- is distorting the damn near mathematically predictable fall-away curve of the blockbuster.

Seriously, you gave even half a shit about any of the plotlines on Davy Jones ship? You didn't mind that Keira knightly (Princess Leia) doesn't hook up with Jack Sparrow (Han Solo) until the movie is half over?

What's interesting here is that people seem to fall into two camps: the people swept up in the sort of raw, Amblin-style simplicity of Monster House, who were bored with the claptrap overproduction of Pirates, and those who were bored with the raw, Amblin-style simplicity of Monster House but swept up by the impressive, epic production of Pirates. There's something to be found in here, I think.

wcdixon said...

I guess I'm camp number 1 - liked simplicity of 'M House'...bored by overproduction of 'Pirates'.

So what's to be found here?

Anonymous said...

I couldn't disagree more. Not that I think it's an awful movie, far from it, but to call it the best movie of the summer? I just saw The Ant Bully and I enjoyed that more than Monster House, which I found trite and unfunny for long stretches (generally anything involving the pudgy sidekick who screamed too much for my taste).

Outside of the moving house at the end, I was also unimpressed (or underimpressed) by the animation. I said as much in my review on SFStation.com (in case you're interested).

As for your MH and Pirates comment, I can't say I agree, but then again I do the review thing semi-professionally, so I see tons of films (3-4 a week), so my opinion is skewed by what I call the Ebert effect (i.e., see enough mediocre films and even the slightly above-average ones start to look like near-masterpieces).

I am looking forward to seeing Miami Vice tonight (and no, I wasn't a fan of the TV series back in the day). It's Michael Mann, so at least the visuals will be top-notch.

Anonymous said...

I don't think this is an "us versus them" sort of thing. I'm sure there are people that hate both and people that love both. I'm not trying to discourage anyone from seeing it. There's a chance that a lot of your readers could float out of the theater on the same high you got. I was just throwing my opinion out there.

I think that all movies should have more "Amblin style simplicity." Trust me, if anyone's one the same page with you, it's me.

Anonymous said...

rogers, I disagree w/ your Pirates comments in one particular--I don't care if Elizabeth and Jack never hook up. First, it's the worst kind of cliche. Second, Knightley and Depp are both fine actors and beautiful people, but they have zero chemistry.

Anonymous said...

*spoiler*

While I thought it was entertaining, I have to admit that as soon as I found out that the "villain" of the movie was a big fat woman, the movie just dropped for me. How lame? A big woman, angry from her past as a "circus freak" is the villain? Just seemed lazy to me. Maybe I'm getting old and I just don't like cheap shots at fat people, but at this point in cinema history can't we play with a formula a little better than just resorting to the "creepy old man" and his "big fat wife" as villains?

Tired stereotypes aside, the 3D was the only reason I saw the film.

Anonymous said...

I'm in line with nona's statement. Pirates suffered nothing more than any other middle film in a trilogy, and I personally thought it was fantastic. The design and realization of the Davy Jones character alone made the movie for me, he was perfect. Even the voodoo priestess--a character which could have easily been a pitfall--was pulled off nicely.

Haven't seen Monster House, but I'm sure I will.

Harriet said...

I'm gonna go out on as far a limb as humanly possible here: I think "Little Miss Sunshine" has Best Flick of the Summer locked up. Oh. My. God.

I literally CANNOT buy a ticket for Pirates. I keep trying and keep chickening out. I saw "X2"on opening day and it broke something inside me. Haven't seen anything until I went to LMS yesterday.

I just can't be disappointed by another action film. I ... just can't. I need some time to heal, to forget.

Anonymous said...

Saw "Monster House" this afternoon and enjoyed it a lot.

Something I thought interesting: The heroes were "tweeners." Not cynical hip teens, not precocious kiddies.

* * *

I thought "Dead Man's Chest" was a bit long, but generally enjoyable. It suffers in comparison to the original mainly by being not the original. A competent summer popcorn movie.

Julie Goes to Hollywood said...

I went to film school with Gil Keenan and though I never met him, I was blown away by his short, "The Lark." You honestly couldn't tell if it were animated or live action. I mean this was a student film. I later heard he'd hand drawn it frame for frame, sitting in his kitchen for a year eating Ramen. I'm dying to see Monster House. And I don't care for Pixar. I like movies about human beings, starring people with their own faces and such. But I gotta say this one looks friggin great.

Anonymous said...

Haven't seen it yet, will be taking my daughter to 3-D...BUT...she doesn't want to go, and among the 8-year old set, there's word that it's not good...

...we'll see.

Anonymous said...

I have to say I dug it, it had more soul and emotional/character believability (is that a word? who cares) than most anything I've seen this summer. My 8 year old got the crap scared out of him a couple times, and was edge of his seat in several others, which for him was perfect. He loved it.

Although, I have to disagree on a personal note with the 3D. Sure, it's neat and whizzbang and all that, but there is just something about the glasses and how the images work at the edges of the frame that I do not like, and would much rather have preferred seeing it without the 3D. But that's just me.

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