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Monster House | 2006 | PG | - 3.6.1
Animated horror film about a house that's really a monster: When a neighborhood boy fears that he may have killed the old man who was the house's only resident, he realizes that the house is alive and very angry -- its beams become sharpened teeth, its windows blaze yellow and its entry rug becomes a long tongue that grabs and pulls everything that comes close, including animals and people, through the front door. However, nobody will believe him. With the voices of Steve Buscemi, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jon Heder, Kevin James and Jason Lee. Directed by Gil Kenan. [1:31]
SEX/NUDITY 3 - A man tackles a young woman onto the floor, and they roll around briefly -- although it is not implied that anything sexual takes place and the young woman protests his actions. A young woman and a man come close to kissing but do not.
► A man licks and kisses a boy's stuffed animal.
► A girl kisses a boy, a boy and a girl hug, a boy tells a girl that he loves her, and two boys flirt with a girl. Two boys admire a girl as she walks along a sidewalk and they swoon over her.
► We see a photograph of a husband and wife kissing.
► A girl hugs two boys and one says, "She grabbed my butt." A man talks about a man "kissing his house." A girl tells a boy that what he is looking at in a house is its "uvula" and he says "Oh, this is a girl house."
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VIOLENCE/GORE 6 - An angry and animated house pulls itself along a street chasing people, someone throws a brick at it, the house becomes angry and lunges at the person, and someone tries to set off explosives but the house grabs him.
► A house becomes angry while three children are inside, and one child is sucked into the air vents, one is wrapped up in large coils and the third is snapped at by a flight of stairs. Three children are nearly eaten by an angry house, but are spat out and covered with goo instead.
► Three children fall through a hole in the floor of a house, one discovers a cage, breaks the lock, opens it and finds the form of a woman in cement on the floor. A boy falls on top of the cement form of woman, and the cement breaks away revealing the skeletal remains of a woman; the boy and two other children scream and run.
► A boy drives a digging machine, which rolls backward down a steep hill, and an angry house follows him down, while breaking apart.
► A large tree becomes animated, it picks up a car (three children are hiding in it), puts the car inside a house, and the car is pulled apart and half of it is "eaten"; the children get out of the other half but remain trapped in the house. A large tree becomes animated, it grabs a police officer's gun, then the officer swings him around by the foot, and tosses him inside "the mouth" of an angry house; another officer is also "eaten" by the house. A man sees a kite inside a house, he walks up the front steps and to the open front door and he is dragged inside (we hear the man screaming).
► A boy rings the doorbell of a house, the house appears to become angry, the windows glow yellow, resembling eyes, the porch slats become like sharp fangs, and an entry rug becomes like a tongue and furls out to snap up the boy (the boy gets away). A girl walks toward a house, the house becomes angry, the sidewalk planks lift up from the ground and push the girl into the air and toward the front door -- which now resembles an angry mouth filled with pointed teeth -- and her wagon rolls into the mouth (the girl is OK). A dog urinates on a lawn, an entry rug unspools from inside the house and snaps the dog up, taking it inside the house.
► An angry house picks a boy up by a cape that's wrapped around his neck. An angry house eats a digging machine, dropping glass to the ground, where it shatters near a boy. A house that has broken apart by falling down a steep hill re-forms into a smaller structure and chases three people. A house becomes angry and begins to lunge for a vacuum cleaner disguised as a boy.
► A woman falls into a hole in the foundation of an inbuilt house (we hear a thud), and cement spills on top of her and covers her (we understand that she died and was buried in the cement). A old man comes out of his house yelling at a boy, he chases the boy, picks him up and shakes him saying, "Do you want to be a dead person?"; the man then falls to the ground gasping and gagging, and he lies motionless (we think he is dead) and is taken away by an ambulance.
► A dark house creaks and groans, a man opens the front door and yells at a girl that's on his front lawn, snarls and bristles and says, "Do you want to be eaten alive?"; the girl screams and runs away, and the man breaks her tricycle and takes it into the house.
► A boy sleeps and a dark shadow creeps through the window, takes the shape of a large hand and crashes down on him (the boy wakes up in a start and is afraid).
► We see an extremely obese woman locked in a cage in a carnival sideshow.
► A young woman and a man talk about a woman disappearing and that her husband "ate her." A man wears a scary Halloween mask and sneaks up behind a boy, scaring him. A man pulls a boy's stuffed animal apart and we see stuffing and a detached head.
► Dynamite explodes and two boys fall into a ditch. A man driving a car backs into a boy wearing a Halloween mask (he does not appear to be injured). A boy steps into a street and is nearly hit by a car, and the boy falls back onto the street and appears to be unconscious for a moment. Two police officers in a car drive slowly behind two boys and a girl and one of the boys is knocked down (he does not appear injured).
► A boy is hit hard in the face by a basketball, falls to the ground and says, "My nose is in my brain." A boy wears a "swamp monster" Halloween mask with bulging eyes and spikes on his head.
► A man dances with a "woman's spirit." A young man tells three children that they must "attack the heart" of a house to make it stop from committing violence on the neighborhood. A video game depicts violent acts, characters being wounded and blood spurting. A boy starts the motor of a digging machine, and the machine roars loudly.
► A husband and wife yell at each other. A babysitter is abusive to a boy that she is supposed to be taking care of (she insults him and says that she will blame him for things that he did not do).
► An animated house seems to cough something out of its "throat" and we see goo splatter. We see a 2-liter bottle half-filled with urine (two boys have been using it as a bathroom and a girl finds it).
► A boy makes a remark about "throwing up in tin foil and eating it." An extremely obese woman performs in a carnival sideshow, and people throw vegetables at her. A man throws a beer bottle at a house and yells at it, and the bottle is sucked down through the grass.
LANGUAGE 1 - 1 scatological term, 3 clinical sexual references (a boy and girl make references to puberty), 2 mild anatomical terms, name-calling (moron, porky, wuss).
SUBSTANCE USE - A boy steals cold medicine from his father's pharmacy. A man of indeterminate age drinks several beers in a couple of scenes and acts inebriated.
DISCUSSION TOPICS - Death of a loved one, "freak shows," scary houses, judging people by their appearance, extreme obesity, shoplifting, authority, fathers expressing their love to their sons.
MESSAGE - Appearances can be deceiving.
CAVEATS
Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.
We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.
Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.
Moana 2 - 1.3.1
Gladiator II - 2.7.2
Wicked: Part I - 3.4.2
Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin. - 1.5.3
Emilia Pérez - 6.6.7
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We are a totally independent website with no connections to political, religious or other groups & we neither solicit nor choose advertisers. You can help us keep our independence with a donation.
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Become a member of our premium site for just $2/month & access advance reviews, without any ads, not a single one, ever. And you will be helping support our website & our efforts.
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We welcome suggestions & criticisms -- and we will accept compliments too. While we read all emails & try to reply we do not always manage to do so; be assured that we will not share your e-mail address.