Smart House was beyond terrifying and it never aired during Halloween. Someone missed the mark on that one because this should have followed Halloweentown. See the lady in the picture? It’s her fault.
Smart House isn’t that farfetched today because most of what was happening in that house is happening in a lot of our houses today. Remember when we watched this movie and was amazed by all the things the house could do? Ahh, nostalgia.
Ben Cooper is a teen who is always trying to win sweepstakes and competitions and just his luck, he wins a smart house for he, his sister and his dad. It should be noted that their mother died some time ago. Ben likes no woman that his father may try and date. Yes, he’s that kid.
The house is magical, for the time we first saw it. The house can sense your breathe in the air and formulate a diet or a meal for you. We learn later in the movie that you can just toss trash on the floor and the house will absorb it. I actually would have loved to know where the trash went because we never learn that. In rewatching the scene where Pat, the name for the house, just tells the kids to throw everything on the floor, I continued to wonder, well after the scene was over, how the floor absorbed the trash and where the trash went in the house. Who was responsible for taking that out? Sara introduces us to so many other things in the house and yes, I understand that trash is not exciting but it would been interesting to know.
Things take a turn when Ben believes that Sara is getting too close to his dad and so he decides to hack into the house and make her more like a mom so his dad will realize that he doesn’t need anyone. Kid, this is not how adults work. So the whole horror of this movie is Ben’s fault. Also, how is a kid smart enough to hack into a complex smart house system? How was Ben doing in school? I don’t feel like he was a straight A student.
Turning Pat into a mom backfires, and bad, and guess who has to come and save the day> SARA! Why did Disney channel always make the kids less than smart? None of these kids think before they do things and I remember at least pausing when I was their age, but then again, I was raised different.
Katey Sagal is a terrifying Pat towards the end of the movie. I love the progression of the creepiness and overbearingness that she brought to Pat once Ben hacked into her system. It went from “Ok, Pat” to “Chill out, Pat!” You know what I always hated in these Disney channel movies? They always added a little brother or sister that really didn’t serve a real purpose. I don’t mind extra people who are there for fun but when I notice that I can do without them I start to get annoyed with them and the writers.
Relive Smart House on Disney+! Tell me, what from Smart House do you have in your house right now? Do you fear your Alexa or Siri could turn into a Pat? Did you even think about Smart House when you got a smart home system?
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