DVD review
Directed by Gil Kenan
Starring the voices of Mitchel Musso, Sam Lerner, Spencer Locke, Steve Buscemi, Maggie Gyllenhaal
Release date Out now

Three children become convinced that something isn’t right about the creepy house owned by their cantankerous neighbour…

Debut director Gil Kenan was handed a big box of tools by producers Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg. The film’s setting is the seemingly placid suburbia of many a Spielberg fantasy that’s disrupted by weird events. The visual style is via digital ‘performance capture’ technology from Zemeckis’ Polar Express but Monster House shunts things on a notch and the result is an enjoyable family movie with a darker than average tone and a quirky cast (including Steve Buscemi and Kathleen Turner) who provide voices and reference movement.

Most impressive is the deliberately stylised hand-made look to the CG characters and backgrounds, often resembling stop-motion but with realistic moving camera shots. This artistry is touched on in seven rather short featurettes, plus artwork and a multi-angle exploration of the opening scene.

A commentary comes from unannounced members of the production team. Ian Calcutt

VERDICT: 8/10
An enjoyably different kind of haunted-house movie, built on a foundation of innovative and lively digital animation.