Better than 'Cars'

"Monster House" is great. It is probably the best animated film to come out since "The Incredibles." There is only one real problem with "Monster House," and I feel that I should address it at the top so that I can spend the rest of this review showering this movie with some much deserved praise. \nThe problem is that it is July and this is very clearly a Halloween movie. It takes place on Halloween, and is about a haunted house with kids going trick or treating in costumes. Obviously they were so proud of this film (and rightfully so) that they felt it deserved summer blockbuster status, but watching kids running around on a crisp fall day talking about trick or treating is quite simply out of place when it is 95 degrees outside.\nAside from this slight anachronism, this movie is quite charming. The voices are perfectly cast, and there are a slew of smaller parts for some big names like Jason Lee, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Kathleen Turner, but the movie is carried by the three young actors (the most experienced of which played "sleepover friend" in "Spanglish") who play the kids who are attempting to keep the anthropomorphic house across the street from devouring all of the children who will soon be knocking on the door to trick or treat.\nThere is some truly incredible animation at work here. The same motion capture technique used for Polar Express is used here, only this time it doesn't seem quite so creepy and forced. The end result is that the characters really seem alive.Some scenes are carried by the ability of these characters to emote with subtle facial expressions. It is somewhat ironic that motion capture works better when the characters are much more stylized and cartoony.\nThis movie doesn't have the same level of dependence on comedy that we have come to associate with animated film. It relies more on an engaging story than wacky one liners, which is a welcome departure from the convention. It is somewhat refreshing not to have to sit through some manic character zipping around the screen in search of the cheapest laughs possible (see Robin Williams in "Robots" or Larry the Cable Guy in "Cars"). Of course that is not to say that there are no laughs to be had in "Monster House." Kevin James is particularly funny in his role as the sheriff. \n"Monster House" is well worth watching, and as of right now it looks like the front runner in the animated film Oscar race, which means it could end up handing Pixar its first loss since "Shrek" beat out "Monster's Inc"