My mom tells me that when my older brother was real little he used to love being picked up and launched in the air by my dad. The sight of it used to scare the hell out of her. My dad would grab him by his little arms and he would let his legs buckle. Then my dad would hurl him into the air with all of his strength. Sometimes getting five or six feet above my dad’s head. My fiancé likes to tell a story about how she would sometimes climb up on top of the monkey bars near her house and walk on them. Her mom to this day doesn’t know that she used to do that. She’d probably crap herself if she knew how close my fiancé came to snapping her 6 year old neck on occasion. I bear a scar on the right hand inside of my mouth where as an infant I was learning to crawl and I crawled right over to and electrical outlet and bit the hell out of it. I don’t know why as kids we’re given such curiosity about the world that makes us want to go explore it, but, we also have such innocence and naïveté that could get us killed by doing so. It’s even more astounding that in those instances where adults weren’t there to protect us from our own stupidity that we didn’t get impaled or crushed or god knows what else. But, also, in those instances were some of the most incredible times you could have as a kid.
Monster house is all of those near death experiences you had as a kid. Only this time you can just enjoy them and not worry about dying.
The movie tells the story about a group of three kids who try to kill the haunted house that sits across from them. The crotchety old man who lives there has been harassing them for stepping on his lawn for years. If any of their toys or balls land on the lawn he takes them and keeps them. The house doesn’t pull any punches either. It doesn’t just want to annoy or scare these little guys, it wants to literally kill them. But the kids figure out a plan to slay the giant shingled bitch anyhow and set out to leave it in ruin.
This movie really does convey such an amazing sense of danger and excitement. But it tempers that danger and excitement with a great feeling of wonder and adventure. It makes sure that the danger never becomes terrifying, only exciting. Which is a hard line to walk. The movie pulls this off while maintaining a great classic feeling. Like E.T., The Goonies, or Adventures in Babysitting, the movie has all the hallmarks of a great kids adventure. Not the watered down edutainment that passes for kids entertainment these days.
The other really cool part of this movie is that it’s not being shown in digital 3D at certain theaters. If you have the chance to watch the movie like this I highly recommend it. The movie never goes for the cheap “things flying out of the screen at you gag”. Instead it uses the 3d in very cool and subtle ways. When a kid has to run across the yard to try and retrieve his ball before the house eats it the movie uses the depth perception that 3d offers to show how his initial 10 yard dash is turned into what seems like miles by the house. Very cool and a very great way to show these artistic possibilities of 3d beyond mere novelty.
9/10
