Monster House 3D Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Monster House 3D Blu-ray Movie Review

Once again, Sony does right by 3D customers.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman September 12, 2010

The house is a monster.

Monster House is nothing less than a digital playground in which artists armed with mice and keystrokes have crafted a spectacular 3D environment inside which plays out a funny, touching, and memorable little movie, all in the name of good old-fashioned spooky fun. A tale of wild imagination and a tender heart that's built around the bonds of friendship, youthful exuberance, and curiosity, Monster House weaves a consistently entertaining fright-fest geared at kids but never forgetting that there are adults with standards and expectations in the audience, too. Like the best computer-animated films -- Wall●E or Cars, for instance -- Monster House puts characters and story first, and the result is an experience that's not dominated by its digital landscape, but merely reinforced by it. Still, Monster House doesn't skimp on its visuals; the intricate and extremely well-done computer animation and the corresponding 3D presentation dazzles with every creaking floorboard and fluttering shutter around the spooky old house, and its many tricks, traps, and secrets are sure to scare and delight all the more in one of the best 3D Blu-ray presentations yet.

Nothing a fresh coat of paint can't fix.

Old man Nebbercracker (voiced by Steve Buscemi) isn't too fond of the neighborhood kids, especially when they trespass on his lawn. He might not pull an M1 Garand on them, but he's liable to confiscate their possessions or, worse yet, his house just might spring to life and gobble up the children. Nebbercracker's across-the-street neighbor, the young DJ (voiced by Mitchel Musso), keeps tabs on the old man with his trusty telescope and Polaroid camera. When he and his friend Chowder (voiced by Sam Lerner) lose a basketball on the forbidden lawn, DJ dares trespass to retrieve it. Neither Nebbercracker nor his heart take it all that well, and the old codger dies right there on his beloved lawn. A guilt-ridden DJ comes to believe that Nebbercracker's house might be haunted, and that the old man has somehow possessed it to exact his revenge on the neighborhood kids he so loathed -- and the one who cost him his life in particular. With the help of the peppy and preppy Jenny (voiced by Spencer Locke), DJ and Chowder take it upon themselves to unearth the secrets of the supposedly haunted monster house and find out once and for all if its legend is bigger than its floor plan or if it really is all that and a bag of chips, confirming suspicions that, yes, best to stay off that lawn and let the house be.

In part, Monster House works very well because it takes fantastical and impossible elements and blends them into a movie that becomes completely believable from beginning to end, from the friendship between DJ and Chowder to a house with a secret to hide and children to eat. "Believable," of course, means that the movie effectively pulls its audience out of the theater and into its world without effort, delivering the ultimate in escapist entertainment that allows viewers to befriend the characters, learn of and revel in the history of the haunted house, slowly come to know its secrets, and traverse its darkest corners and dingiest rooms, all in the name of good-natured fun. There's plenty of humor in character interactions but there's also an underlying seriousness to the story -- found in both its scares and its surprising thematic depth and heart that's revealed as the final act plays out -- that lends to the picture a perfect balance for an animated movie. The laughs underscore and lessen the visually and thematically dark elements, but there's just enough honesty to the characters and believability to their plight that the laughs never wholly define the movie, but certainly support it and help offset some of the scariest elements. That's pretty much become the de facto structure for these digital movies; they're cute, cuddly, and funny on the surface but manage to craft several additional levels that bring balance to the movie and give it more weight and purpose than what's found in more generic children's fare. With Monster House, that means very well-conceived and executed characters and a story with heart that, by film's end, leaves the audience satisfied for the way it turns everything from its first two acts upside down and reveals an honest and even moving purpose behind the mayhem.

Monster House earns its stripes with a quality story that's right up every neighborhood child's alley, so to speak, but the film also finds success through quality voice acting, maginative direction, and great visuals. Boasting a top-notch voice cast -- including Steve Buscemi, Jon Heder, Jason Lee, and Kathleen Turner -- Monster House never wants for a better collection of actors, but the real surprise comes from the exceptional work of Mitchel Musso and Sam Lerner as the film's unwitting and underaged heroes who manage to pull off an easily-believable friendship that's a key to the film's success. Not to be outdone by his voice cast, first-time director Gil Kenan -- who followed up Monster House with City of Ember -- demonstrates an understanding of just what it takes to bring a movie like this to life not through a string of routine shot-by-shot visuals, but by moving his (digital) camera to just the right spot, with just the right flow, and at just the right angle to truly capture and reinforce all the fear, emotion, camaraderie, and drama of the movie from a visual perspective. Kenan's effort elevates the picture by a notch or two over where it probably should be; the picture works well even though its base structure would seem to suggest something far more generic than what fans get. A haunted house, middle school-aged kids, a scary old codger, and a decades-old secret really don't spell "new," but Kamen -- with the help of Sony's computer wizards and some really great performances -- makes Monster House and honest-to-goodness quality movie that's worthy of becoming a Halloween staple.

As to the film's visual structure, it's both well-designed and superbly-implemented. Visually, there's no denying that Monster House is a winner. It might not feature the same level of absolute digital authenticity and the nitty-gritty detailing and texturing seen in Wall●E, and the characters' hair might not have even the slightest bit of life, flow, or bounce to it, but the real star of the movie -- the haunted house -- is one of the better animated environments and characters ever seen on the silver screen. This isn't just another haunted house with front windows as eyes and a front door as a mouth. It certainly depends on those attributes at a base level, but look further and revel in the playground of frightening fun that the digital artists have created within its walls and around its outer perimeter. Sidewalks, carpets, basements, and even a gaudy entryway chandelier are all used to imaginative effect not just for show, but as integral elements in the story. This gives the picture a unique flare and further helps its escape from that sense that, on paper, Monster House really shouldn't be anything special. Of course, things get progressively more complex as the movie goes by; it's not enough for the house to simply appear neglected and dark by film's end. While the climax sees the house looking a bit more generically menacing than it should, that middle stretch where everything's used to such inspired and innovative effect helps offset what is a visually stale appearance for the house in the midst of an otherwise excitingly-staged final confrontation.

Monster House 3D Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Sony's done it again. The studio's second 3D title, Monster House, delivers a consistently gorgeous and nearly flawless 3D transfer that dazzles even through the film's many dark scenes. The film's 3D elements impress at every turn; there's a marvelous sense of depth accompanying every minute of the film, and even in those inevitable one or two scenes where the picture takes on a slightly falt appearance, there's always at least some background elements or spacing between characters and their environments that give the audience an honest 3D sensation. Best of all, however, is the sheer seamlessness of the presentation. While there's a hint of "ghosting" noticeable in a few places -- most heavily over the film's title card -- it never truly detracts from the overall experience; it's difficult to expect perfection this soon out of the gate and on first-generation 3D equipment. All things considered, though, the few faults visible in the transfer barely register against its many strengths. Monster House seems like a movie made for 3D. Whether looking up a flight of stairs, out across the neighborhood, or through some tree branches that have lost many of their leaves to the autumn winds -- and in several scenes those leaves seem to be blowing around right in front of the viewer -- there's always something delectably spooky to be seen in most every frame of the movie. Each of these elements, and plenty more, enjoy a natural sense of depth that gives the viewer an honest and realistic perspective to gauge just where everything is situated around the screen, and the 3D visuals help a great deal in pulling the viewer into the movie, even when some objects, like a bedroom telescope, protrude from the screen. What's even better about this immersive 3D experience is that the Blu-ray format allows for the rest of the critical elements of the transfer to look just as good.

There's certainly no shortage of wonderfully-displayed imagery around the screen, and every square inch seems as sharp, detailed, and crisp as the film could seemingly allow. It's not quite up to the same level of excellence as Coraline 3D, but then again, that's a somewhat different style of animation. Still, Monster House never lacks exemplary detailing on character clothes or texturing around the rickety old monster house itself, where each floor plank, chimney brick, or roof shingle appears so finely reproduced that their every crack, scuff, or other various forms of wear and tear are plainly visible. In other words, the Blu-ray reveals the labor of love that was Monster House in terms of creating as seamless and real an environment as possible within the digital realm. The color palette appears faithfully reproduced for this 3D Blu-ray presentation, too. The image sports something of a fall-like tint, emphasizing oranges and browns in daytime scenes while not losing any necessary colors lit by moonlight, flashlights, or other light sources in the lowest of light conditions. The opening shot of an orange leaf and the field of orange leaves around it is nothing short of breathtaking, and combine that with the superb detailing visible on that leaf, and viewers will find themselves in a state of digital 3D bliss. Blacks are critical to any top-notch Blu-ray release of Monster House, and they never disappoint. Always consistently rich and inky, the picture's many nighttime scenes are only accentuated by the transfer's mesmerizing blacks that don't suffer even through the prism of the 3D glasses. No doubt about it, Monster House delivers a breathtaking 3D experience, and Sony's to be congratulated not only for this exemplary 3D transfer, but for allowing 3D fans the opportunity to buy it without any strings attached.

Please note that screenshots 1-15 have been captured from the 2D version of the film located on the 3D disc; images 16-20 are still photographs of the 3D picture in action.

Monster House 3D Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Monster House 3D features an all-new DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack, replacing the PCM 5.1 uncompressed mix featured on the previous 2D-only release. Fortunately, the DTS track delivers the goods on all fronts. From the most nuanced atmospheric to the heaviest thumping of the track's potent low end, listeners will never be disappointed with what Sony's new track has to offer. Listeners will note that the track's aggressiveness is due in large part to some heavy surround sound implementation; gusty winds set an establishing tone over the film's opening shots as they seem to blow all through the listening area. Fire seems to engulf the entire soundstage in another early scene, crackling and raging through every channel and doing everything but heating up the room. The rickety old house creaks and cracks and springs to life -- both literally and audibly -- and the track does an excellent job of supporting the picture's visuals and story through its ability to so effortlessly create a haunting yet fun sonic environment. Indeed, there's no shortage of zipping and zooming sound effects that move effortlessly though the 5.1 speaker configuration, creating a cacophony of sound that's near the pinnacle of lossless soundtracks, and they're supported by powerful bass that rumbles the soundstage with regularity but that always retains a tight and focused tone and throbbing sensation. Music is crisp and nicely delivered with some back-channel support, and dialogue is center-focused and always clean and easily understood. Monster House's lossless soundtrack is the perfect match for the 3D visuals, and together they create an A/V experience that's about as good is it gets in 2010.

Monster House 3D Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Monster House scares up a nice selection of extra content for its 3D debut. First up is an audio commentary track with Director Gil Kenan and others. This is a patchwork commentary assembled from bits and pieces of clips from several of the filmmakers. It's hard to follow, not for the nature of its comments but for the track's failure to identify the various participants. If there was ever a commentary primed for a picture-in-picture experience, it's this one. As it is, fans will still find plenty of interesting nuggets inside, so long as they don't mind ignoring the voices and listening only to the words they speak. Inside 'Monster House' (480p) is a seven-part documentary that quickly but adequately covers a wide swath of information surrounding the making of the movie. Segments include Imaginary Heroes (3:38), a look at the process of designing the characters, from original sculptures and drawings to the final computer-generated product; Beginner's Luck (2:35) highlights the ease with which the film was cast; The Best of Friends (2:50) looks at the bond formed between the actors who played DJ, Chowder, and Jenny; Lots of Dots (2:38) examines the difficult but rewarding work of performance capture technology; Black Box Theater (4:23) further looks at the work behind motion capture filmmaking; Making it Real (6:13) takes viewers into the computer studio for a look at how the film's performance-capture footage was translated into computer-animated images; and Did You Hear That? (3:04) offers a brief look at the picture's sound design.

Following the extensive Inside Monster House documentary is Evolution of a Scene: Eliza vs. Nebbercracker (480p), an exhaustive composite piece that looks at the entire process of creating a specific scene of Monster House. Things begin with a brief featurette (2:57) that introduces the nature of working on a complex animated film. Story Reel Animatic (2:50) features the scene in a raw animated storyboard stage, complete with sound effects. Performance Capture (2:50) features the actress who plays Eliza performing for the performance capture equipment. Layout Stage (2:50) features the scene in a very rough computer-animated element. Animation (2:50) again features the scene in another state of computer animation. Final Film (2:50) shows the scene in its completed state, and Composite (2:50) shows the scene in five separate states, all within small windows laid out around the screen. Next is The Art of 'Monster House' (1080p), a collection of three still galleries: Conceptual Art, People, and Places & Things. 3D-specific extras include exclusive sneak peeks of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 3D and Open Season 3D. Finally, BD-Live functionality is included.

Monster House 3D Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Though it might not look all that original on paper or sound all that unique if one were to call it a "neighborhood kids battle a haunted house" story, Monster House is nevertheless a strong picture thanks to its solid characterization, great animation, knowledgable direction, and surprising depth beyond its basic story elements. No, it's not a Pixar movie in terms of scope, production values, or story, but Monster House could safely be nestled into that category right below the cream of the crop. It's a worthwhile picture that will entertain the kids and satisfy the adults, and it's good enough to enjoy every year around Halloween. The best way to watch Monster House? In 3D, of course. Sony's once again done the right thing and released one of its 3D titles without tying it to a bundle, instead allowing all early adopters the opportunity to buy the movie off-the-shelf at a reasonable price point. Best of all, the quality of the 3D image is exemplary, boasting marvelous depth and the same level of detail and coloring Blu-ray fans expect of a top-tier release on the format, whether it's of the 2D or 3D variety. Supported by a powerful lossless soundtrack and a decent array of extras, it should come as no surprise that Monster House 3D comes very highly recommended.