Monster House, in its opening week took over $22 million dollars, besting Lady In The Water, though still getting clobbered by the Johnny Depp-infested phenomenon Pirates Of The Caribbean. Monster House is the latest film to utilize high-tech computer animation pioneered by Pixar and capitalized on by DreamWorks.

Animation has certainly come a long way in the last three decades. There has always been a certain condescension coming from mainstream audiences as well as filmmakers, that cartoons are mainly children's entertainment and that even the best features are not important films and thus not comparable to the average prestige picture. At one point it seem that animation was ghettoized according to high class society. There was Fantasia, of course, then Loony Tunes and Tex Avery cartoons. These were enjoyed on an artistic level by adults, but not necessarily on an intellectual level. Even the classic Disney cartoons like Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, Bambi and Pinocchio were considered classic "cartoons" that adults tolerated and kids loved.

The Prestige Years Of Animation

When did this revitalizing of animation begin--namely to include the adults in on the fun as well as the kids? In another words, when were adults really allowed to have fun and not grumble that they were taking the kids to see a movie? Personally I blame 1988's groundbreaking Who Framed Roger Rabbit for starting the fire, which purposely set out not only to explore new technology, but also to challenge the concept of what cartoons could be. Who Framed Roger Rabbit was edgy enough to merit a PG rating, and actually featured a screenplay written for adults.

Disney capitalized on the new trend and released animated features, not necessarily written for adults, but written for whole families. The Little Mermaid, Beauty And The Beast and Aladdin were magical enough for kids but subtle enough to appeal to adult sensibilities. Animation's highest peak hit when in 1991 Beauty And The Beast became the first animated feature to ever be nominated for Best Picture.

Have Cartoons Lost Their Magic?

However, nearly two decades later animation seems to have shrunken back into the cute hole it once crawled out of. There's no question that Toy Story was a groundbreaking film in terms of technique. Yet the massive success of Toy Story has only spawned more imitators--each more shallow and intellectually lazy than the last. Shrek borrowed from the Aladdin philosophy and included lots of inside jokes for adults with a few crude gestures. Finding Nemo resurrected Bambi's story arc and focused on delivering brilliant voice-over performances, namely by Ellen Degeneres' Dory fish. The Incredibles, while claiming to be a little more realistic experiment, turned out to be a very safe family comedy about the family.

But all of these films are no longer prestigious or all that challenging. They're no longer seen as anything relevant by the industry. Maybe it was just one self-deprecating joke too many that made Hollywood lose respect for the animated feature. When is the last time South Park or The Simpsons--two of the best shows on television--have been nominated for a Best Comedy Series Emmy Award? (Never) When's the last time an animated feature has been nominated for Best Picture? Only once--in fact the academy has all but guaranteed there will never be a next time, since they've created the Best Animated Feature Oscar.

Do you blame the sensibility of show business or are you starting to critically look at the common product itself? This year's biggest animated features, Over The Hedge and Cars, while visually stunning, are filled with predictable cartoon-faced antics that would make even Belle cringe. When's the last time we've even seen a "drawn" two-dimensional character in a major animated release? (Maybe in South Park: Bigger, Longer And Uncut?) They're all pixilated graphics these days, voiced by some kooky celebrity who's still basking in their moment in the sun. Animation has become Hollywood's own Jessica Rabbit to play paddy cake with: look cute and bring home the money, honey.

Monster House--A True Original

What I truly admire about Gil Kenan's Monster House is that it's probably the first non-blood relative of Toy Story that we've seen in quite a while. While it is a cutesy cartoon by design, the story and structure we explore make it resemble more of a horror flick. Not quite The Omen we're talking about here, but certainly worth a few scares. In the film three teens find out that their neighbor's house is actually alive, and is some sort of evil monster that's been devouring innocent people. Sounds like a plot out of Friday The 13th and it's definitely something close to that--though with a certain mischievous quality, like a "Haunted House", that puts squeamish audiences at ease.

It is boasted as a Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis project and fittingly so; the film recalls to mind the spirit of the 80's when those two wizards once explored the kid-friendly horror genre in films like Poltergeist and Gremlins, and creepy fun like Raiders Of The Lost Ark. While I admire the audacity of Monster House, and the bold direction the movie takes--(It could have been worse. It could have been a movie about a colony of Lemmings with a dreaming youngster voiced played by Tyler James Williams with additional voices by Ray Liotta, Cybil Shepherd, John Goodman, Colista Flockheart and a big duck played by Ed Asner) I somehow doubt it's going to seriously change the slutty reputation that animation has gotten over the last two decades. But with its dark exteriors and murderous interiors, Monster House could give somebody else a bright idea: hey, why not try to make a cartoon that really matters again?

I expected that the studio Pixar would be the first studio to ever attempt to break out of the chains. Director Brad Bird had stated before that he hoped Pixar features would start to move beyond the Toy Story archetype and attempt to deliver a truly unique vision that just happened to be animated. Maybe even a story written for adults that had some social commentary. However, considering Disney's recent purchase of Pixar Studios, this scenario no longer seems likely. Reportedly, after the tremendous success of Pirates Of The Caribbean, Disney wants to focus more on family adventure and reduce the risks of adult-themed features.

Strange but true: a trend that Disney once pioneered--that animated films can be more than just two hours of nonstop laughs and then 10 minute lessons--it has now put to rest and celebrates animation's permanent role as a court jester.

I hope for the sake of original thought that Monster House eats a lot of innocent people.