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'Monster House': Better-than-average animated treat

There's a better-than-average animated Halloween treat that, unfortunately, is being released this weekend, while youngsters are still up to their eyeballs in pirates, race cars and Garfield. Still, write down Monster House, even if it just to remember to rent it when it gets to DVD.

Recent UCLA film school graduate Gil Kenan and a team of screenwriters catch the right blend of kid-friendly scares with an adult level of humor in this new take on the suburban myth of the unkempt, haunted tract house.

Sony Pictures 'Monster House' B+ The verdict: The right blend of kid-friendly scares and adult-level humor. Director: Gil Kenan Starring: Steve Buscemi, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jon Heder, Kevin James, Jason Lee Run time: 1 hour, 31 minutes. Release date: July 21, 2006 Rating: PG for scary images and sequences, thematic elements, some crude humor and brief language. See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate 'Monster House'   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

No, not that there are ghosts inside, but the house itself is eager to capture and eat any children that come too close.

Home-alone boy DJ (voiced by Mitchel Musso); his pudgy, not-too-bright pal Chowder (Sam Lerner); and their new know-it-all friend Jenny (Spencer Locke) battle the house, which threatens to eat them with its tongue-like hallway carpet and jagged wooden teeth.

Kenan gives it a fantasy realism with a stylized version of the motion-capture technique that producer Robert Zemeckis used on The Polar Express.