"Monster House"

What do you do when your crazy neighbor's crazy house tries to eat you? Blow it the “fug” up.

I just finished watching Monster House, and it was one of the better cartoons of the digital age. In fact, I do believe it was better than Pixar's last outing, Cars. My only regret is not seeing it in theaters.

Why was it better? Well, put simply, Cars was a little contrived. It wasn't bad, let's be clear on that. Over the Hedge, that was bad (for other reasons I'll get into), Cars was just little forced. It was a more standard morality tale than I think Pixar is used to telling, especially given such spectacular outings about self sacrifice, like Finding Nemo and the Incredibles (which very well may be THE best cartoon of the 3d world), weaving complex tales of belonging like Toy Story and Monsters. Monster House, as all good stories do, spins its own morality tale, but its subtle, and worked smartly into the movie. The kids start out as, well, kids, and by the end of the adventure, have matured, but realize their place as kids and choose to revel in it instead of fighting it. They also learn about the value of loving those that seem unlovable, as well as the standard fare of self sacrifice. Notice that it has smart values worked in, and not preachy political propaganda (Over the Hedge), or bizarre leftist propaganda (Happy Feet). It preaches to things that are firmly rooted in the human heart. Compassion, friendship, loyalty, love.

Love. It has the romance streak in it. The boy gets the kiss from the girl, and then becomes possessed of extraordinary courage. Two friends fight over the aforementioned girl, and the girl learns that just because boys are different, it doesn't make them inferior or stupid. Instead, she learns that she likes not just them, but their kind.

The jokes. The movie had several “laugh out loud moments.” Good jokes, and there weren't any jokes that were supposed to be sly adult jabs. No. All good jokes, all jokes a kid and an adult will laugh at.

The sense of danger and adventure in the movie was genuine. There were real stakes here. The kids had witnessed people getting killed by the behemoth, yet they remained undeterred. The sense of adventure was not forced, or over stylized. Because the concept of the movie was tight, coherent, and by itself interesting, the drama naturally flows. Also, the antagonist, unlike propaganda cartoons (cough, Over the Hedge, cough) isn't some abstraction like, “people,” or “people who disagree with us,” but a very well fleshed out character, with revelations about him that get slowly and intelligently revealed throughout the movie.

The design of the house was badass. Holy crap. Best (and only) monster house I've ever seen. They managed to give it a unique animating style that made it look almost claymation. Plus, the thing was all spikes and serrations, and it mutates at least twice, becoming more ferocious with each transformation. There were a lot of really nice subtle things too, especially with the house. The kids made it gag at one point, so water flowed from its eye (the window), and when it went into hiding, things snapped, like wood, back into place.

So, in a nutshell, this reminded me of a time when cartoons were fun, and you didn't have people breathing down the necks of those who create the cartoons to “tame it down a bit,” (I mean, effectively, 4 people and a dog die in this movie. That's pretty gutsy), or to make it more educational, which always always turns into something political. This played on a sort of classic fear of kids (the scary old guy), and the guys who wrote it just sort of went nuts with it, building it bigger and bigger, more and more ridiculous.

It was good. Watch it. Now.

I also want to clarify my position: Cars was good, just no Pixar good. That translates to, "better than everyone else, still, but not as good as Pixar." Seems paradoxical, yes, but Pixar just rocks that hard. Monster House is just some fluke.