A nicely animated but rather forgettable monster movie for kids, Monster Family tells the story of the New York family the Wishbones. After reluctantly going to a Halloween costume party, the family are cursed by an evil witch and transformed into real versions of the costumes they were wearing – meaning mum, dad and two kids are now a vampire, a mummy, a werewolf and Frankenstein’s monster.
With confusing detours to the London Eye and Egypt, a lot of the movie makes little sense (why is Dracula using a jet pack – surely he has wings?), while the humour mainly concerns fart gags that even little kids will find tedious. The voice cast make the best of it – Jason Isaacs, as Dracula, has the most fun – but in the end it’s not as good as Hotel Transylvania and its sequel.
Fine for watching on a rainy day on TV, but not worth making the effort to head to the cinema for.
Is Monster Family suitable for kids? Here are our parents’ notes...
This film should be fine for children over the age of 7 unless they are very sensitive.
There are a few minor scary moments – vampire mum craves blood at one point, and the witch may frighten younger viewers – but it is mainly mild threat.
As mentioned in the review, there is some rude humour, mainly concerning the father’s farting.
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