The film features the voices of Mitchel Musso, Sam Lerner, Spencer Locke, Steve Buscemi, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Kevin James, Nick Cannon, Jason Lee, Fred Willard, Jon Heder, Catherine O'Hara, and Kathleen Turner.

After Zee kicks Bones out for being too rough, he sees his kite in the front door of Nebbercracker's house and reclaims it, only to be sucked inside.

The children consult local supernatural expert Reginald "Skull" Skulinski, who speculates that the house is a rare ghost-object hybrid that can only be killed when its heart is struck.

Realizing that the furnace is the heart, the children construct a dummy filled with cough syrup and offer it to the house to eat, hoping to put it to sleep.

Monster House was initially set up at DreamWorks Animation SKG, based on a pitch by newcomer Gil Kenan.

[6] By 2004, the studio put the film in turnaround, after which Sony Pictures Entertainment picked up the project and began production on August 23 of that year, with Zemeckis and Spielberg serving as executive producers.

They worked on the script at her house, and to meet the established deadline, they finished a draft quickly and sent it to Amy Pascal at Sony's Columbia Pictures.

As work on the screenplay was underway, in a few months of preparation, Kenan had assembled a team of storyboard artists led by Simeon Wilkins in Studio City, Los Angeles to put up rudimentary boards with scratch dialogue and temporal score, with Khang Lee and Chris Appelhans collaborating on paintings for the film.

[6] The casting for Monster House was a laborious process, especially for the lead trio, who were portrayed by Mitchel Musso, Sam Lerner and Spencer Locke.

Kenan agreed with head of animation Troy Saliba that actors were needed to portray the roles in a believable way.

Many of the film's artists interpreted the roles on set and enhanced the lead actors through posed animation that drove the exaggerations of their performances to make them feel subtle and real.

Verreaux and Kenan went together on a scouting trip to design the film's locations, which involved a visit to Universal Studios' backlot, during which they were granted access to the suburban street of The 'Burbs (1989), the neighborhood of the show Desperate Housewives and the house of Psycho (1960).

While The Polar Express was produced for the 3-D IMAX 70mm giant film format, Monster House was released in approximately 200 theaters equipped for new REAL D Cinema digital 3-D stereoscopic projection.

The site's critical consensus reads, "Monster House welcomes kids and adults alike into a household full of smart, monstrous fun.

[14] Roger Ebert gave the film his highest ranking of four stars calling it "one of the most original and exciting animated movies I've seen in a long time" and compared it to the works of Tim Burton.

[15] Ian Freer of Empire gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, stating "A kind of Goonies for the Noughties, Monster House is a visually dazzling thrill ride that scales greater heights through its winning characters and poignantly etched emotions.

"[16] Jane Boursaw of Common Sense Media also gave it 4 stars out of 5, saying "This is one of those movies where all the planets align: a top-notch crew (director Gil Kenan; executive producers Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis), memorable voices that fit the characters perfectly; and a great story, ingenious backstory, and twisty-turny ending.

It's a 3-D animated kids' film built on classic gothic horror lines, a jokey, spooky Goonies for the new millennium.

[19] Amy Biancolli of the Houston Chronicle wrote, "It's engineered to scare your pants off, split your sides and squeeze your tear ducts into submission.

"[23] In a dismissive review, Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote: "Alert 'Harry Potter' fans will notice the script shamelessly lifts the prime personality traits of J. K. Rowling's three most important young characters for its lead trio: Tall, dark-haired, serious-minded DJ is Harry, semi-dufus Chowder is Ron and their new cohort, smarty-pants prep school redhead Jenny (Spencer Locke), is Hermione.... it is a theme-park ride, with shocks and jolts provided with reliable regularity.

[32] On March 25, 2024, while promoting Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, director Gil Kenan addressed the possibility of a sequel or a spin-off.