This is a familiar scenario, from Frédéric Back’s Krac! for instance, and Up, and of course Virginia Lee Burton’s original picture book. From The Little House we learn that development is bad. This is an appealing, practically no-brained sentiment. Can be true. Has been true. But to state it as a totality is also both facile and reactionary.
Maybe this is harmlessly facile and reactionary, though, if that’s even possible. At this length, and for this audience, it’s a fair idea to introduce, and maybe impose a little. The film’s design is generally quite nice, there are several pleasing little moments, and they anthropomorphize the houses pretty effectively. Mostly, though, pretty bland.