I took my kids to see Monster House the weekend it opened. If you know me, you know that I don’t take the kids to the movies very often, and hardly ever right when a movie premieres. I don’t like the crowds, and, well, I’m cheap.

But I really wanted to see it.

We all had a good time, and not just because I bought popcorn.

My children, I fear, are growing up with my sense of humor. And so many of the sorts of things my pre-mother self would’ve said “Oh no, absolutely not!” to as being age-inappropriate, I now feel like my kids are perfectly capable of handling and understanding. Their taste runs towards the dark (like mine). So am I going to run out and rent It for them? No, certainly not. But in the end I felt like Monster House was just the right level of spooky/scary for a couple of elementary-aged kids who aren’t too easily frightened.

(If you have a sensitive child who finds Disney animation scary, please don’t go see this movie and then send me hatemail. Use your own best judgement.)

I think this review really sums it up best:

With a sensibility that falls somewhere between the Stephen King and Tim Burton, this is a horror movie for kids with bite, heart and a poignant happy ending that is entirely earned and completely rewarding.

I could hear the kids sighing with relief at the end, but it wasn’t so pat and saccharine that we felt gypped. And perhaps most importantly—because it’s all about me, dontchaknow—we all enjoyed it. What a nice change of pace from the usual schtick of forking over a mortgage payment for tickets and being bored out of my skull while my children leave the theatre clamoring for theme toys.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 3rd, 2006 at 10:45 am and is filed under Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.