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You, the Living
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Monster House
EMAILPRINTSony Pictures Releasing

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 32 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 42 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Adventure | Animation | Comedy | Drama | Family/Kids | Fantasy | Mystery
Written by:
Dan Harmon (also story)
Rob Schrab (also story)
Pamela Pettler
Directed by: Gil Kenan
Release Date:
Theatrical: July 21, 2006
DVD: October 24, 2006
Running Time: 91 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG for scary images and sequences, thematic elements, some crude humor and brief language
Starring Steve Buscemi, Nick Cannon, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jon Heder, Kevin James, Jason Lee, Sam Lerner, and Spencer Locke
Columbia Pictures and executive producers Robert Zemeckis and Steven Speilberg present Monster House, an exciting and hilarious thrill-ride tale about three kids who must do battle with a mysterious house that threatens anyone who crosses its path. (Columbia Pictures)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: City of Ember
GAMES: Monster House (DS)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Kenan directs with a zingy sense of kids, comedy, fright, and visual perspective. But the movie also shimmers and shakes in all its motion-capture animated beauty with the slyly deep sensibilities of executive producer Robert Zemeckis.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
Kenan never loses sight of the wonderment that children (and adults) experience when the inanimate becomes animate. Anthropomorphism is basic to the art of animation. So is a good story, and Kenan has that, too.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
The most imaginative and delightful computer-animated movie of recent years outside of the Pixar brand, Monster House is a Halloween ghost story by way of monster-movie adventure.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell
Monster House makes its intentions clear: It wants to wrap you in a thick, warm blanket of 1980s nostalgia.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar
One of the best movies of the year, and a great accomplishment for Messrs. Harmon and Schrab. Maybe now we’ll get a feature length "Robot Bastard" movie.
Read Full Review >Premiere Sara Brady
Smaller kids might find the movie too intense at times, especially when DJ, Chowder, and Jenny find themselves literally in the belly of the beast. But everyone else should enjoy a good, goosebumpy scare.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Easily the best computer-animated feature to come from Hollywood in a long while, Monster House is also one of the weirdest. A creepy-crawly, freak-show Halloween yarn.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Scott Foundas
Becomes one of those wonderfully weird adventure stories beloved of children who don't mind getting a good old-fashioned case of the heebie-jeebies. It's kind of a blast for adults too.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust
Has a return-to-innocence sweetness that recalls some of the work of another of its executive producers - Steven Spielberg. Kids may grow up too fast today to embrace the film's familiar message of the virtues of an unhurried adolescence, but it's nice to be reminded of the possibility.
Read Full Review >Empire Ian Freer
A scary, sharp, funny movie, this is the best kids’ flick of the year so far.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
I was a little disappointed by the cop-out ending, in which debut director Gil Kenan gives up the film's frightening elements and comforts the audience with comedy and superficial emotion.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Peter Debruge
Ultimately, what happens with the house is not only entertaining, but a marvel of what animation can accomplish in this day and age.
Read Full Review >USA Today Scott Bowles
Monster House may be the first true horror film for children.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
While Monster House is in no way groundbreaking, it's an enjoyable way to spend 90 minutes, and is suitable for all but the youngest children.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
The house itself - which walks down the street in one impressive scene - is memorably voiced by Kathleen Turner.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
A captivating piece of visual wizardry. The house, which eventually frees itself from its moorings and chases after our trio of tweener heroes, is a genuine original.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Monster House was designed as a family movie and a scary movie. It may scare children, but it won't terrify them. So it's no scarier than it should be.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
What's missing is what Pixar never fails to provide: The kind of storytelling heart that is inseparable from imagination.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
Set around Halloween, Monster House manages to cull bits and pieces from Hammer, Hitchcock and the old-dark-house genre of 19th Century literature and early 20th Century stage and film.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
Director Gil Kenan has a feel for dizzying "camera" work, and the screenplay combines witty gags with a sweet, albeit familiar, suggestion that kids shouldn't be in any great hurry to be anything but kids.
Read Full Review >Variety Todd McCarthy
Constant shock cuts and souped-up music and sound effects will keep small fry in a state of moderate petrification, while the trio of tweeny leads plus attitude-redolent cohorts will make teens feel welcome.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine David Edelstein
The movie might be scary for small kids--but good scary, with goose-bump-inducing frames, witty repartee, and three resourceful kid protagonists.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
The three neighborhood kids who venture inside this toothy trap are wittily conceived (as are other characters, like a goth babysitter), but though the overall conception suggests Hayao Miyazaki's "Howl's Moving Castle," the frenetic pacing seems as American as an apple pie in your face.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
Surprisingly enough, puberty-stricken J.D. and Chowder actually sound like real teenagers, but the cartoony look will probably alienate real-life kids that age, and the man-eating house might be downright terrifying to younger kids.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
A serviceable story served up as a large animation experience for kids.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
The voice work is exceptional, with a special nod to Maggie Gyllenhaal as a toxic-tongued baby sitter and Jason Lee as her raunchy-to-the-point-of-depraved boyfriend. Kenan is a talent to watch, even in a flick that doesn't know when to quit.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
Monster House is the first horror comedy made exclusively for fourth-graders.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Monster House benefits from strong graphic design and lovely lighting, but the script is nothing to write home about.
Village Voice Luke Y. Thompson
The coolest thing about Monster House is that Kathleen Turner's face was actually motion-captured to create the house's movements, but actual human beings on-screen might have ratcheted up the tension, of which there is none.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Equal parts Ray Bradbury and rickety carnival spook show, this animated tale of a carnivorous, haunted house and the band of neighborhood kids who decide to put it out of commission feels maddeningly unfinished.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Ann Hornaday
A grisly, often cynical piece of work whose joyless, aggressive spirit is made even less appealing by its soulless visual style.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.6 (out of 10) based on 42 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
EconomistBR gave it a4:
I didn't enjoy this movie, the plot was nasty, unlike Shrek for example Monster House is not a family movie it's a small kids and babies movie.
skier cjd gave it a6:
This was a very good movie - except for the one and only fatal flaw I'll mention later. It strikes a nice balance between faux-realism (Sky Captain) and talking whatever (every other CG movie). The visual styling achieved through performance capture is a very creative, unique, if not over-the-top approach - and actually done well. It certainly adds a layer of organic quality to the acting that of most other CGI films miss. Nevertheless, it doesn't skimp on top-tier animation. Like most, it does a nice job retaining the believable faux-filmed shot effect, but differentiates again by doing so with zero motion blur. A rare but cool effect. The only problem is that it reveals the limitations of standard 24-30FPS frame rates. That'll probably be coincidentally addressed as soon as HD replaces most DVD players. The characters were expectedly a bit stereotypical, but seemed offset by the convincing dialogue exchanges. They actually made the idea of PG-rated horror targeting kids work without feeling too sappy and calculated for adults, for the most part. While capturing the aspects of live action horror better than expected, it certainly wasn't too scary, crude, or gruesome for children. That wouldn't be true had the same scenes been shot with a real-life quality. Its not as family oriented as anything done by Disney/Pixar, but that's all they do albiet well - why should EVERY CG movie be THE SAME sappy family adventure with these calculated infallible performances that avoid ever sounding like a conversation any real person over 8 could ever relate to? I'm not saying Disney's are bad, on the contrary, but enough critcism that others don't immitate them. I'm still waiting for more PG-13 and (oh my) an R-rated CG movie that follows more along the lines of the anti-family-appeal types such as Antz or Shark Tale. The only thing that made this a 6 out of 10 vs. a 9 out of 10 - warning: [***SPOILERS***]: the ending. At the point where I knew the credits were about to roll, I was sure that nobody that was shown getting killed had any chance of coming back. They were all throwaway characters that deserved it. It was clear the ending would have no stupid epilogue or open ending, so it had NO reason to give any explanation as to what happened to the deceased and how that would affect their community - let people think a little bit. The ending, of course, was cheery in regard to main and uninvolved characters surviving. If any that didn't deserve it in context had died, it would've been quite inappropriate for children. Actually the ending I almost got made far more sense than most live action films that go the other way and overemphasize this unnecessarily grim or unbelievably stupid ending as if trying to pull one over people. I was so glad it didn't do the cheesy, predictable thing that only a true bubble-gum-pop kid-flick that barely cost a few million bucks to make would have any right to do... until it did! Until this, I'd though this movie was above and beyond that worthless tripe. All the characters that died in the movies time frame was resurrected without having learned a single thing. The first was a VERY convincingly portrayed stereotypical drunk stoner drop-out, that has to exist and get killed in every real horror film unless developed any further than that (in which case they still tend to get slashed). So what kind of message is this conveying? I'm confused. They took as much liberty as PG-rating could've possibly allowed by having the clearly underaged "bones" hammered while making abusive sexual passes. Add an F-word to that scene and the MPAA would've been questioning if that scene deserved an R-rating. This complete inconsistency really undermined the entire premise that the house was ever something to fear, and that the movie wasn't a total waste of time. If you can pretend this wasn't part of the movie, its still good. Take my advice and hit the stop button as soon as you hear the credit roll coming. Your kids will thank you.
Matt A gave it a9:
I enjoyed this movie. It reminded me of a flashback to when I used to watch "youth" intended movies as a kid. The focus on kids on an Adventure, without the help of adults and being the underdogs. Some potty humor, but a lot of stuff that just went back to basic actions or thinking patterns of ordinary kids. The story was great, and not hard to follow, although it did get a little far-fetched at the end, but who doesn't like a good over-the-top ghost story. I do. Thumbs up.
Sean M gave it a9:
A fantastic animated feature that unfortunately went underrated or over the heads of most who saw it. This is one of the few films that really seems to understand what pre-pubescent boys are like, and captures it perfectly in a very imaginative setting, with a true visual style. The kids are likeable and unprecocious, and their comedic timing is perfect. The performance capture also makes for some incredibly expressive animation, not to be missed. Also, I have to laugh at the reviewer who figures this is all a marketing scheme for a Disney ride - which is pretty funny considering it was made by Sony.
cb by gave it a5:
Great graphics. Not the best or funniest animated movie. The last part was a bit exaggerative but the rest was fairly good.
skier cjd gave it a6:
This was a very good movie - except for the one and only fatal flaw I'll mention later. It strikes a nice balance between faux-realism (Sky Captain) and talking whatevers (every other CG movie). The visual styling acheived through performance capture is a very creative, unique, if not over-the-top approach - and actually done well. It certainly adds a layer of organic quality to the acting that most other CGI films miss. Nevertheless, it doesn't skimp on top-tier animation. Like most, it does a nice job retaining the beleivable faux-filmed shot effect, but differentiates again by doing so with zero motion blur. A rare but cool effect. The only problem is that it reveals the limitations of standard 24-30FPS frame rates. That'll probably be coincidentally addressed as soon as HD replaces most DVD players. The characters were expectedly a bit stereotypical, but seemed offset by the convincing dialogue exchanges. They actually made the idea of PG-rated horror targeting kids work without feeling too sappy and calculated for adults, for the most part. While capturing the aspects of live action horror better than expected, it certainly wasn't too scary, crude, or gruesome for children. That wouldn't be true had the same scenes been shot with a real-life quality. Its not as family oriented as anything done by Disney/Pixar, but that's all they do albiet well - why should EVERY CG movie be THE SAME sappy family adventure with these calculated infallible performances that avoid ever sounding like a conversation any real person over 8 could ever relate to? I'm not saying Disney's are bad, on the contrary, but enough critcism that others don't immitate them. I'm still waiting for more PG-13 and (oh my) an R-rated CG movie that follows more along the lines of the anti-family-appeal types such as Antz or Shark Tale. The only thing that made this a 6 out of 10 vs. a 9 out of 10 - warning: [***SPOILERS***]: the ending. At the point where I knew the credits were about to roll, I was sure that nobody that was shown getting killed had any chance of coming back. They were all throwaway characters that deserved it. It was clear the ending would have no stupid epilogue or open ending, so it had NO reason to give any explanation as to what happened to the deceased and how that would affect their community - let people think a little bit. The ending, of course, was cheery in regard to main and uninvolved characters surviving. If any that didn't deserve it in context had died, it would've been quite innappropiate for children. Actually the ending I almost got made far more sense than most live action films that go the other way and overemphasize this unnecessarily grim or unbelievably stupid ending as if trying to pull one over people. I was so glad it didn't do the cheesy, predictable thing that only a true bubble-gum-pop kid-flick that barely cost a few million bucks to make would have any right to do... until it did! Until this, I'd though this movie was above and beyond that worthless tripe. All the characters that died in the movies time frame was resurrected without having learned a single thing. The first was a VERY convincingly portrayed stereotypical drunk stoner drop-out, that has to exist and get killed in every real horror film unless developed any further than that (in which case they still tend to get slashed). So what kind of message is this conveying? I'm confused. They took as much liberty as PG-rating could've possibly allowed by having the clearly underaged "bones" hammered while making abusive sexual passes. Add an F-word to that scene and the MPAA would've been questioning if that scene deserved an R-rating. This complete inconsistency really undermined the entire premise that the house was ever something to fear, and that the movie wasn't a total waste of time. If you can pretend this wasn't part of the movie, its still good. Take my advice and hit the stop button as soon as you hear the credit roll coming. Your kids will thank you.
Allistair P gave it a10:
The perfect animated film and my favorite film of 2006. So much fun and so many levels of artistic genius behind the great story and dialogue.
