MONSTER HOUSE — *** — Animated feature starring the voices of Mitchel Musso, Steve Buscemi and others; rated PG (violence, vulgarity, mild profanity, brief drugs).
Filmmaker Robert Zemeckis ("Back to the Future," "Forrest Gump") last directed "The Polar Express," an animated film that featured motion-capture digital characters that were rubbery-faced and looked unreal. As a result, I found that film more creepy than enchanting.
Zemeckis (along with Steven Spielberg and others) is a producer on "Monster House," an animated comedy that's also filled with rubbery-faced, unreal-looking characters. And like "Polar Express," this one is pretty creepy. But this time, it seems to be intentional.
"Monster House" is an animated comedy with horror elements, and it turns a bit too dark in its final third but is still fun — and certainly more original than most films aimed at kids.
The title refers to a decrepit-looking home owned by the crotchety old Mr. Nebbercracker (the voice of Steve Buscemi), who shoos away anyone who sets foot on his property. Until he apparently drops dead on his front lawn after a confrontation with a young neighbor named DJ (Mitchel Musso).
Weird things continue to happen there, such as the disappearance of objects and people — including the boyfriend (Jason Lee) of DJ's baby sitter (Maggie Gyllenhaal). But no one will believe DJ, so he recruits his pal Chowder (Sam Lerner), and a new friend, the crafty Jenny (Spencer Locke), to help him get to the bottom of this mystery.
Some of the humor is a little crude for a PG-rated film, and the material does get dark. But the animation is bright and colorful, and it looks pretty spectacular — particularly the sequence in which the house finally becomes ambulatory.
The young voice cast is quite good, especially Musso (from the Disney Channel's "Hannah Montana" series). And part of the fun comes from the spot-the-voice casting of Fred Willard and Catherine O'Hara as DJ's parents, Kevin James and Nick Cannon as bungling cops — and "Napoleon Dynamite" star Jon Heder, who briefly shows up as the voice of a character who basically sounds like all the others he's played so far.
"Monster House" is rated PG for scenes of violence (including some peril and disturbing imagery), some crude humor (references to and gags about bodily functions), scattered use of mild profanity (mostly religiously based) and some brief drug use (cough medicine). Running time: 91 minutes.
E-mail: jeff@desnews.com