by CHRIS BARRY and LORRAINE CARPENTER

Monster House

Ten-year-olds will love this film. The animation is striking in a Tim Burton-esque way, the chills chilling, the thrills thrilling and the kids who star in the flick come across as pretty genuine pre-pubescents.

Yes, Monster House is a winner—for 10-year-olds, that is. For us bigger boys and girls though, well, the splendid animation is only going to take you so far. Director Gil Kenan works very hard to make this kids’ film palatable to grown-ups by throwing the occasional smart and irreverent line in here and there but, rest assured, this is no Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, or even, for that matter, Shrek.

DJ (voiced by Mitchel Musso) lives across the street from a nasty old git named Nebbercracker (Steve Buscemi) who likes to beat up and scare the sweet bejeezus out of neighbourhood kids who happen to step on his property. And for good reason, as we later find out.

You see, his house is possessed by the soul of his late wife, a former carnival fat lady with a serious chip on her shoulder. When Nebbercracker suffers a stroke while whacking DJ around one sunny fall afternoon, all hell breaks loose as the house comes alive and starts eating people, and well, generally not acting like a very good neighbour. Eventually, DJ and his pals overcome their shortcomings to do battle with the beast and help save the day. Do yourself a favour and let the babysitter take your kids to see this one. (Chris Barry)

Strangers With Candy

Having recently discovered the Strangers With Candy TV show, which ran for three seasons on Comedy Central in the late ’90s, I wanted to like this movie, a prequel depicting reformed junkie whore Jerri Blank’s return to high school. Written by Amy Sedaris, Stephen Colbert and director Paul Dinello—who play Blank and closeted teachers Chuck Noblet and Geoffrey Jellineck, respectively—the movie, like the show, is a parody of ’70s and early ’80s after-school specials.

If you’re unfamiliar with those sentimental cautionary tales about friendship, romance, teamwork and drugs, some of the satire will feel foreign, but this movie’s awkwardness extends beyond potentially alien source material to more crucial areas of premise, performance and comic timing.

The leads are fun to watch, particularly Sedaris, whose wannabe goodie-two-shoes constantly reverts to her animalistic former self, and Colbert, whose character is like the poor cousin of the jerk-bag he plays on The Colbert Report. But some of the big-name bit players, like Dan Hedaya and Sarah Jessica Parker, drop the ball as characters that were much funnier on the show, where they were played by other actors.

To top it off, the central plot, which involves Blank entering a science fair to impress/revive her comatose daddy, feels like an epic Simpsons episode, and not in a good way. Strangers With Candy was much better suited to a half-hour cable format, which let the little zingers, perverse jokes and leftfield references rule the school. (Lorraine Carpenter)

Monster House and Strangers With Candy
open this Friday, July 21

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