Monster House (2006)

Monster House was, well, okay, but I had to sit through a lot of nothing until the good stuff finally arrived 50 minutes into the movie! It all begins when we're introduced to our main characters DJ and Chowder who have nothing special to their characters except for looking creepy thanks to the ill-textured character design. Just saying, they're outsider kids who see this creepy stuff going on and nobody believes them. DJ has to put up with everybody treating him like a nobody, and I must confess that when the only thing I learn about him is that he is a loser I don't root for him and his friend. On top of that, you also have to sit through both their endless arguments, them talking in some kind of mean tone to each other and them just looking at the house and freaking out about it without doing much to further the plot. It really got on my nerves that so little concerning the house happened. But after these 50 minutes approximately, the titular house shows its true nature and, hands down, that is a really cool design of the house and the time spent there is tense and you never know what's going to happen to DJ, Chowder and this new girl who by this time has joined the gang. Too bad I do not care that much about them, because that would've added much more to the excitement. If you can make it through the first 50 minutes you're in for something pretty awesome.

I watched this movie for the first time in years and it was even better than I remembered.

I hadn't seen this movie in years, but loved it as a kid. When it hit Netflix I decided to give it a re-watch. While it wasn't nearly as good as I remember, there were still some great things about it. The plot of Monster House is interesting. There's a haunted house across the street where a crazy old man lives and steals kid's belongings. Only this time, there's a twist to the house and it's owners. Unfortunately, the house itself is the best part of the movie. Everything else is just okay. Gil Kenan had a great idea, he just didn't know what to do with it. The characters aren't great either. While some of them are just forced in simply for the sake of a female protagonist, others just end up coming off as kind of dumb. Sure, they're young, but they're still not very good at following common sense, even for their age. None of their life problems seemed particularly well-developed or original either. This movie suffers heavily from its animation style. It's kind of ugly. The movements are fine and everything, but some character actions end up looking unfinished or just awkward. The overall look of the characters is very unappealing, which really made it hard to get through the movie at times. The movie was over way too quickly. Towards the end I wish they'd drawn out some parts, but instead they just briefly touched on them and rushed to the climax. The climax was pretty awesome though. Overall Monster House has an awesome idea, but that's about it. The plot isn't well-developed, the characters are cliché and underdeveloped, and the animation looks unfinished. While the climax was awesome, it wasn't enough to save the entire film. In the end I'd still recommend giving this movie a watch. It's got some really great ideas that I wish could have been surrounded by something better, but it's still worth your time, even if it's only for the ending.

DJ is a preteen boy, confused about growing up, meeting girls, and being "normal". His best friend is an immature and overweight boy donning a cape, Chowder, and DJ's hobby is spying on Old Man Nebbercracker, a bony old crone who seems to hate children. When the old guy drops dead while attacking DJ, the two boys find themselves caught up in the mystery of the house the old man lived in, possessed by the spirit of a morbidly obese woman named Constance.What was honestly very surprising in a movie like this, was the strangely delivered message about what kind of rage possesses a bullied individual. Constance was living in a circus during the Vietnam War, as "Constance the Giantess". Crowds of people would throw tomatoes and food at her and call her names, until Nebbercracker, in his Twenties then, rescues her and marries her. While building their dream home, a gang of young kids pelt eggs at Constance, and she remembers the circus and ends up killing herself in a fit of rage. Had everyone been nicer to her, perhaps she would have lived and wouldn't be the angry ghost that lives within this film.With the various fart jokes and lines such as "she grabbed my butt", you wouldn't think this would be a good movie for kids. It certainly isn't for little kids, I'd say maybe ages 12 and up, but it does surprisingly have some good lessons in it, such as respect towards the elderly, and not to judge people by their appearance. Aside from that, this movie was HILARIOUS! I loved it! I loved the soundtrack, the plot, the characters... my only complaint are the crude humor jokes. There is one scene where the two boys have stayed up all night and haven't left to go pee, therefore they have Mountain Dew bottles piled high full of pee on DJ's dresser. There is some humor only adults would get. Nevertheless, this has been one of my favorite movies ever since it first came out.