Monster house - La casa de los sustos

The teenage DJ is observing his neighbor Nebbercracker on the other side of their street in the suburb that destroys tricycles of children that trespass his lawn. When DJ's parents travel on the eve of Halloween and the abusive nanny Zee stays with him, he calls his clumsy best friend Chowder to play basketball. But when the ball falls in Nebbercracker's lawn, the old man has a siege, and sooner they find that the house is a monster. Later the boys rescue the smart Jenny from the house and the trio unsuccessfully tries to convince the babysitter, her boyfriend Bones and two police officers that the haunted house is a monster, but nobody believes on them. The teenagers ask their video-game addicted acquaintance Skull how to destroy the house, and they disclose its secret on the Halloween night.

"House Monster" begins like "Fright Night", i.e., a teenager sees a weird situation with his neighbor and nobody gives credit to his words. The story is flawed, since nobody sees the attacks and movements of the house in the whole neighborhood, only the three teens. But the movie is very funny, with great animation and hilarious voices, and an excellent and worthwhile family entertainment. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Casa Monstro" ("The Monster House")

Well, I think if I saw this movie when I was ten years old, I would have been totally scared and could not sleep for weeks. Now it seems time has changed: ten-year-old children are playing horror-video games so probably what was too scary for them in the eighties is just right and fun now. Actually this is just what you could expect from a movie about a monster house: funny, spectacular, sometimes frightening. Quite a well-developed story - even if it is full of clichés, or should I say homage? - with the usual "two boys, one girl" trio as seen in Star Wars or Harry Potter. The animation is strange at first: they seem like rubber dummies, but thanks to the motion capture, their movement and expressions are first rate. While they look like having plastic hair, there is a great development since Polar Express in one field: their eyes are constantly moving - full of life. And the whole movie is just a typical and fun Spielberg-Zemeckis production with elements of Hitchcock. Besides the extraordinarily dark scenes it just feels like those very entertaining Spielberg productions of the eighties.

I just saw this movie at the Seattle International Film Festival. I didn't know what to expect, but I must say I found it quite enjoyable. There was a lot of talk before the movie. People were saying that it will be too scary for the little kids, but not adult enough to capture older kids attention.

I can see it being quite frightening at times for the little ones, but of the kids in the theater its not like I heard any of them screaming mommy. I don't know how well the movie will do with kids, but from an adult's perspective, its definitely worth a viewing.

The best part of the movie definitely has to be the characters. Each were extremely well thought out and put together. They did a fantastic job of matching right voices with the right characters. Characters facial expressions were amazing. You'll find yourself laughing at things they say and do quite a lot.

The animation looks great. They certainly aren't ground breaking. But they fit the movie well. However, I will say that some scenes looked quite amazing.

If you are looking for a fun, clean movie with plenty of laughs and chuckles, this is definitely one you don't want to miss!

Monster House was a perfect combination of kid-friendliness, horror, action and adventure. When I first walked into the theater I thought it would be "kiddy" because I went to see it with my younger cousin. You know how most animated movies are somewhat funny and about teamwork and working together or teaches life lessons or morals but I actually came to find that this movie was more scary than comical or ethical. I actually got into it. I actually ended up liking it more than my cousin. Some of the content is for older kids but it's non-stop action and the momentum of the story line never stops. And the characters seem so real. 2 thumbs up. I definitely recommend it.

I saw this film as part of a free screening I took my little sister to and was ready for an immature piece of fluff. Preparing for restless children making bathroom trips and throwing an occasional tantrum overshadowing a mediocre movie I was happily proved wrong. Too many CG-generated films ride on the spectacle of the animation technique keeping audiences in awe while forgoing story. While jaws drop at impossible camera angles and while 3-D rendered characters being stretched in a 2-D way we all play spot/ear the celebrity voice. The Dennis Leary as a ladybug joke can only be taken so far. Perhaps a bar is being set by Pixar to work from an entertaining script like "The Incredibles" that would make an good movie no matter how it was made. Drawing from the neighborhood ghost story and a dash of H.P. Lovecraft's "The Shunned House" Amblin delivered an entertaining popcorn movie that ranges in age appeal. The humor could have easily fallen into stereotypical characters, the familiarity of the story, and bathroom laughs, but maintains irony and, while not naive, maintains a reverence for the innocence of the characters and no doubt much of the young audience. This is a popcorn movie, no doubt, and not every gag is spot on, but it makes for a good matinée and a pretty good introduction to horror movies for a younger crowd. As a fan of animation I walked into a second-run screening of "The Iron Giant" and loved it. For me seeing a good movie outside of hype is a lot of fun. I know my expectations were low and the movie was free but I thought it was pretty cool.