Monster House is not your typical computer generated cartoon. It doesn’t offer cutesy, cuddly anthropomorphic beings voiced by famous celebrities cracking Borscht Belt level pop culture quips. There’s no major moral about believing in yourself or savoring your friendships. There’s only one major action setpiece, and it grows instinctually out of the storyline, not merely tossed in to show off the computing power. The wee ones won’t be clamoring for Chowder or Zee action figures (though a fully articulated Monster House model would be sweet) and only the most seasoned film going youngster will find anything instantly “likeable” about this narrative. Hats off to Executive Producers Stephen Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis. They have made the first tween classic, a movie destined to be remembered by audience members a little too old for talking cars and wise cracking woodland creatures, but still unable to enjoy the harsher elements a PG-13 or R film has to offer. For them, this is a Goonies to get lost in, an amiable adventure yarn that has action and atmosphere to burn.

That being said, who was the nimrod over at Sony who decided to make this a SUMMER release? Especially with Pixar pitching its own animated auto extravaganza and Warner’s Ant Bully, Paramount’s Barnyard and their own Open Season all vying for the same demographic dollars. Granted, with DVD sales indicating that children will sit through even the most middling exercise in CGI idiocy, piling on seems profitable. But the fact of the matter is, Monster House deserves better. It is a more fully realized film than most of its bitmap brethren. It has real performance from real actors, not stunt casting for the sake of marquee value. It follows traditional narrative lines while tweaking and twisting them to create an entirely new notion of the family film and it does so via a cinematic style that doesn’t utilize strict cartoony conceits. Besides, this is a film that feels like Fall, utilizing rich autumnal colors and the crackle of fallen leaves to accent its moody Halloween setting. Placing it in the middle of beach and sunburn season is just dumb. One needs that certain snap in the air to get the full effect.

Maybe this is why, instead of a booming box office success, the film is fairing rather poorly in the receipts race. It’s a similar stumbling block that faced Zemeckis’s last effort, the yuletide treat The Polar Express. Thanks to IMAX and the seasonal push, however, that occasionally creepy Christmas Card found its footing. Maybe the same will happen here. But Monster House could also be hampered by something I like to call ‘computerized confusion’. You see, ever since a couple of toys went talky, Hollywood has brainwashed its audiences into thinking that making the inanimate “come to life” is the only legitimate use for CGI. Realism should be avoided in favor of three-dimensional drawings. Want proof? When Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was released back in 2001, everyone balked at the blending of legitimate (if, in the end, rather lame) sci-fi with photo realistic computer rendered animation. Sure the story sucked, and some of the voice work was over the top and obvious, but the actual use of the infinite motherboard possibilities to create a sense of authenticity and texture was superb. It’s the same with Monster House, except that, this time we have a tasty tale of a demonic domicile to go along with all the bit rate bells and whistles.

It’s a shame, really. The audience I saw the film with contained many little children, and they sat mesmerized by the story, the situation, and all the spooky spectacle. Abide the warnings though parents – this is way too intense for the under seven set. I would argue that any responsible guardian should keep the toddlers at home until the next offering of funny furry woodlanders arrive. No, let Monster House be the post-modern Hardy Boys (with a little help from and prim and proper Ms. Drew) it strives for. Let it teach your preteen that there is still some magic left in the standard Cineplex experience, that everything doesn’t have to be micromanaged and marketed to complement a fast food tie-in or a theme park attraction. Monster House deserves to be a milestone moment in the lives of young filmgoers, a creative coming of age where the electronic babysitter gives way to the real appreciation of film as an artform. Leave it to two men who’ve made their careers out of such aesthetic defining moments to put the latest technology to the test - and doing so without relying on the gimmicks that are quickly killing the genre. No matter the time of year, Monster House is a masterful flight of fancy.

8 out of 10

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