Monster House

Featuring the voices of Steve Buscemi, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Kathleen Turner, Jon Heder, Kevin James, Nick Cannon, Catherine O’Hara, Fred Willard, and Jason Lee.

A cute trifle about three kids and the carnivorous haunted house across the street, without all the stupid pop-cultures references that ruin most animated kids movies. At its best, "Monster House" hearkens back to the days of raunchy obscenity-obsessed pre-adolescence of "The Goonies" (Spielberg produced both), although its weak third act gets carried away with explosions and noise – it doesn’t come near the whimsical perfection of Wallace & Gromit.

The movie uses some of the same motion-capture technology as "The Polar Express," but allows the characters to be more caricatured and, therefore, not unintentionally creepy. Swarms of beloved supporting actors show up, not to make "hip" parodies of themselves, but to just be supporting voices. Jason Lee’s stoner, waxing over his long lost "awesome kite," is the best, and indie-nerd god Steve Buscemi can always drink from my canteen – if you’re like me, you can actually hear Buscemi’s voice in your head when you read his IMDb quotes page. The three leads are voiced by newcomers, including a girl named Spencer Locke, whose IMDb pictures might terrify you when you realize she’s only 15.

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