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by Flick Chick Vique Rojas

I give Monster House 4 Red Vines for being a "coming at ya" good time!

It was my first introduction to a movie in 3-D. Unfortunately it was on TV so I had to rely on my Mom’s first hand account on what it was like to go to a theatre and watch The House of Wax in 3-D. Years later, a local station ran a special presentation of the flick in 3-D and directed you to a convenience store to pick up those high tech red and blue lens glasses. The effect was less than spectacular but at least I got to see the infamous paddle ball scene in all its 3-D glory. Such as it was.

That technology has come a long way since the 1950’s and Disneyland in particular has done it justice with its special in-park theatricals like Captain Eo and the wonderful current attraction, Muppet Vision 3-D.

But now you no longer have to go to the Happiest Place on Earth to see a great 3-D flick!  Although the Speilberg-Zemeckis-Clark production Monster House is showing all across the valley, a small handful of theatres are showing the animated feature in REAL D’s digital 3-D format. It is well worth the effort to seek out on of those chosen few for a wonderful 3-D experience.

First of all, gimmickry aside, Monster House is a delightful adventure in storytelling. In it, three pre-teens discover that their grumpy old neighbor’s house isn’t just haunted, it’s a living, breathing monster! And a hungry one at that! To their horror, they witness unsuspecting pets and people devoured by the ‘monster house’! The dialogue is clever and expertly delivered by the famous and not so famous voices.

While I didn’t feel the 3-D effect had a lot of ‘wow’ moments, the whole film had this quirky ‘View Master’ feel. What it did have was an interesting feel of ‘depth’ in all the scenes. You know, 3-D! It was so much fun, I can’t imagine seeing it the regular 1-D way. And now I even regret not seeing Superman Returns in 3-D when I had the chance.

First time director, Gil Kenan did an outstanding job creating chills, excitement and laughs along the way. Plus there are plenty of lines meant just for the adults in the audience. The 10:20pm performance I saw was primarily adults and they seemed to get quite a kick from this flick.

A quick note to parents: The movie can be too scary for little ones. A co-worker said her family had to leave about 10 minutes into the movie because her 3 and ½ year old was terrified when the Monster House came to life. Best to save this for kids 7 and older.

Also, your set of 3-D specs will set you back an additional 2 bucks. For a primetime howing, that puts an adult price at $11. But it’s worth it for this very special ride.

Did you see it?
Tell us what you thought of it!