Monster House Review

Messages: The children work together and learn an important lesson about the dangers of judging people by their appearances but these lessons are negated by the children's misdeeds.

Role models: In their investigation, the kids steal, operate heavy machinery, break and enter, even use sticks of dynamite. The adults are unreliable and absent in their lives. The babysitter is mean, self-absorbed, and doesn't care about the kids. She allows her boyfriend in the house at night; he gropes her and is generally disrespectful. The kids display crude humor relating to bodily functions, and they pee in bottles to avoid leaving the room all night. A dad refuses to say "I love you" to his son

Violence: The house is a nightmarish creature that gobbles up neighborhood toys, pets, even people that trod on its lawn. It's scary, especially the last 20 minutes. The storyline includes dead and dying people; violent video games, guns and explosions; and there's a supernatural undercurrent to the movie that isn't appropriate for young kids. Nebbercracker and the babysitter's boyfriend make physical and verbal threats to the kids.

Sex: The boys are at an age where they're starting to think about girls, which comes out in their dealings with Jenny. Also, the babysitter's boyfriend tries to put the moves on her, and she kicks him out of the house.

Language: Verbal threats to the kids, name-calling, potty humor, terms of deity used as expletives, and other words such as "suck," "moron," "kiss my butt," and "crap".

Consumerism: Very few pop culture references, which is refreshing.

Drinking, drugs and smoking: The boyfriend drinks beer and appears drunk when he leaves the house. The kids plan to use cough syrup to put the house to sleep. A cop takes a drink of the cough syrup when no one is looking.