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Trailer for "Monster House"

Monster House is a computer animated throwback to such live action Steven Spielberg productions as The Goonies and Hook, and such Spielberg-derived fare as The Monster Squad. This is only appropriate, as the film lists Spielberg among its executive producers.

It’s also appropriate that this children’s film received a PG rating, as ten minutes into the screening I attended, a little girl cried “I’m scared!” to her father. Unfortunately, her slightly older brother was a member of the target audience, so she had to endure the remainder of the film, albeit with her hands covering her eyes. Let’s not forget that the PG-13 rating was created for Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, when studio heads feared the sacrificial removal of a still beating human heart would threaten box office returns.

Monster House features nothing as horrifying as that, but it does possess its share of dread atmosphere and frights, especially during its early reels, before settling into a conventional rollercoaster groove. At times, it reminded me more of a Stephen King novel rendered for pre-teens than Walt Disney-type entertainment. The plot pits a trio of kids against a haunted house with an appetite for tricycles, house pets and bumbling (not to mention racially stereotyped) police officers. In the well-constructed climax, the house rampages through its residential neighborhood, a suburban nod to the giant monster flicks that no doubt thrilled Spielberg in his adolescence.

It’s refreshing to see human beings as main characters again, rather than talking animals, which seems to be the trend in film. The fluid direction strikes a nice balance between chuckles and white knuckles. The film may be too scary for young kids, and may feel too long for some parents, but I would have loved it as a ten-year-old.