Although no adults will believe them, three children realize a neighbor's house is really a monster in Sony Pictures' animated "Monster House.". The children must find a way to stop the house and save the neighborhood.

"Monster House" is a horror movie with training wheels. Because hey, somebody's got to hook that next generation of scare-addicts.

And this "Monster House" is a real fun house. It's a 3-D animated kids' film built on classic gothic horror lines, a jokey, spooky "Goonies" for the new millennium.

It's about jumping to conclusions about creepy neighbors, guilt and learning to have courage.

Oh, and it's scary. Seriously, if your child's still in the cartoons-can-give-me-nightmares phase of childhood, save yourself the grief. Wait for "Barnyard."

D.J. (Mitchel Musso) is just old enough to consider skipping Halloween. He's an only child whose voice is changing, which means he's not as up for kiddie games with his pal Chowder (Sam Lerner).

D.J. also has too much time on his hands. He's watching the creepy house across the street. Intently. He's documenting Mr. Nebbercracker's crimes.

Every neighborhood has a Nebbercracker, a loon the kids fear and whisper rumors about, a crank who takes your toys if they land on his property, who flies into a rage if you touch his lawn. D.J. gives the old man (voiced by Steve Buscemi) a heart attack.

"I'm a murderer!" the kid shrieks.

"No, you're not," Chowder assures him. "When it's an accident, they call it manslaughter!"'

D.J. quickly realizes Nebbercracker was the least of his problems. Nebbercracker's empty house rolls out its carpet-tongue, bares its wooden-steps-teeth, and eats dogs. And people. And today is Halloween. A kid out trick or treating? "It's what's for dinner."

D.J., Chowder, and a cute prep-school girl they meet (voiced by Spencer Locke) try to warn the kids, warn the neighbors and alert the cops. Nobody listens.

So they take matters into their own, kiddie hands.

There are stretches in this where you might question why this tale was animated at all. Nerdy, plastic-faced kids bicker and joke and tease and taunt. A moppet rides her trike, a metal-head babysitter (voiced by Maggie Gyllenhaal) torments D.J., the leaves blow in the Halloween breeze, all things you can do perfectly well without animation.

Then the house blinks a window shade, opens its gaping maw, and you understand. This place would eat a certain Amityville bungalow for lunch. And spit out the splinters.

"Monster House" aims its scares at 12-year-olds, and its humor at 15-year-olds. Beer is consumed, cough syrup stolen, parents cheat on one another, are cheated by babysitters, and lied to, and a great evil must be confronted.

It's edgy, all right. It isn't for every child. But just you try to keep them away from this fun "House."

<b>TITLE:</b> "Monster House"<b>DIRECTOR:</b> Gil Kenan<b>CAST: </b>The voices of Steve Buscemi, Mitchel Musso, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Sam Lerner, Jason Lee, Spencer Locke, Kathleen Turner.<b>RATED:</b> PG (scary images and sequences, thematic elements, crude humor and brief language)<b>GRADE:</b> 4 Stars (out of 5)