This animation film is about a house in an otherwise normal neighborhood which is a monster in disguise. A little girl stops in front of an old house while riding on a tricycle. An old man named Nebbercracker (with the voice of Steve Buscemi) comes outside to attack her and throw her off the lawn. He breaks her tricycle into pieces. A young boy across the street named DJ (with the voice of Mitchell Musso) sees everything. After the incident, his friend Chowder (with the voice of Sam Lerner) comes to visit. They are playing basketball and the ball bounces across the street to the yard of the old house. DJ goes to retrieve it. He is confronted by Nebbercracker, who has a heart attack and dies. The house is not happy with what happened.
Click here to see the rest of this review...
The baby sitter Elizabeth "Zee" (with the voice of Maggie Gyllenhaal) arrives to take care of DJ while his parents are away. The house calls DJ in the middle of the night. DJ calls back using *69 but there is no answer, yet he hears the phone ringing in the house across the street. DJ sneaks out in the middle of the night to meet his friend outside. A friend of Elizabeth's named Bones (with the voice of Jason Lee), is tempted to enter the house by a kite he lost when he was a kid. When he goes for his kite, he is grabbed by the house and pulled inside. Chowder and DJ approach the house. Chowder goes on the porch. He rings the door bell. The house turns into a monster, and tries to eat Chowder. Chowder barely escapes.
Chowder and DJ watch the house from DJ's house across the street using DJ's telescope. A girl named Jenny (with the voice of Spencer Locke) comes into the neighborhood selling candy door-to-door for Halloween. The house tries to eat her. A dog pees on the lawn of the house. The house grabs it. The kids call the police. They try to warn the police, but the house is non-reactive when the police get there. They go to talk to a guy named Skull (with the voice of Jon Heder) who has knowledge to help them. Skull tells them the house is possessed by a human soul. He tells them they need to strike the house at its heart. They notice there is smoke coming out of the chimney. They realize the furnace is the heart of the house. They decide to make a dummy kid, fill it with cough syrup, so when the house eats it, it will fall asleep. Then they will have a chance to enter the house and put out the fire in the furnace.
They make a dummy kid using a vacuum cleaner. They send it to the front of the monster house. It almost gets there, but the police arrive before the house can eat the dummy. The kids are arrested. The police hear a noise from the house. They go to investigate. The kids try to stop them. A tree in front of the house captures the police deputy and takes him inside. The house captures the policemen. A tree captures the police cruiser which contains the children and pulls it in to the house as well. Once the children are inside the house, it goes to sleep. The children explore the house, which seems not to know they are there at first. They fall into the stomach of the house which is full of toys, which the house has captured over the years. They find a gigantic cage in the basement, which DJ has the key to open. They find a giant concrete shrine to Nebbercracker's huge wife. The house captures Chowder by tempting him with his ball. Then it captures Jenny and DJ. It tries to swallow them. Jenny makes the house throw them up.
In front of the house, DJ is run over by an ambulance. Nebbercracker arrives in the ambulance. He is alive. The house is haunted by Nebbercracker's wife. Nebbercracker confesses to DJ he fell in love with the fat woman named Constance (with the voice of Kathleen Turner) from the carnival. He saved her from the circus. He built her the house. Long ago, the house was attacked by vandals on Halloween. During the vandal attack, Constance fell into the basement and was covered with cement. She haunts the house from then on and wants to kill children especially on Halloween. Nebbercracker finished the house after Constance died. Nebbercracker has been protecting the children from the house ever since.
The house comes alive and chases the children. Nebbercracker stops the house from smashing the children. Nebbercracker pleads with the house, then he threatens it with explosives. The children use a back hoe to attack the house, but it defends itself. Nebbercracker gives DJ some dynamite to use to explode the house. Chowder lures the house to a location under a massive crane. DJ climbs the crane. He lights the dynamite with the help of Jenny, and by hanging from the crane throws it down the chimney of the house, where it goes down to the furnace heart of the house and explodes, killing the house.
Nebbercracker is reunited with his wife Constance for just a moment as the house dies. Nebbercracker is so happy, for he is finally free after being trapped for forty five years. Nebbercracker gives all the missing toys back to the kids who come trick or treating. Chowder and DJ go trick or treating with the rest of the kids. The boyfriend of Elizabeth, Bones, climbs out of the hole where Nebbercracker's house used to be. The police climb out next. Elizabeth turns down the advances of Skull and chooses to be with Bones instead.
Best part of story, including ending:
This is a fun comedic parody of haunted houses. In this movie, the house comes alive and is able to walk down the street. Pretty funny.
Best scene in story:
I like the scene when the old man Nebbercracker recounts how as a young man he fell in love with the fat woman in the circus. It is ridiculous, but really funny. The only thing missing is she was not a bearded lady.
Opinion about the main character:
DJ is pretty cool and he eventually figures out how to overcome the house so he is a believable character.
