Review of Goosebumps (2015) by Brett H — 03 Feb 2016

R.L. Stine's classic children's book series, Goosebumps, is adapted to the big screen in a crazy, family-friendly adventure that brought back some serious nostalgia for the books and TV series I read/watched growing up.

The film stars Jack Black as the author (though he looks nothing like him) who lives as a recluse with his daughter out of fear that someone will accidentally unleash the monsters he created from their manuscripts, yes, in this world the monsters are REAL beings and he must keep them at bay.

All of this goes south when a young boy moves in next door and accidentally lets the creatures out to wreak havoc on the town, and from there it's a rollercoaster adventure to put them all back where they belong.

The teen actors are pretty good and fill the movie with playful energy, the stand-out being Ryan Scott Lee, from Super 8 fame who adds a lot of well-timed comedy to the story. The monsters/creatures for the most part all look great, with the terrifying ventriloquist dummy, Slappy, as the leader brought to life with old-school practical effects, but unfortunately CGI was favored a little too much for the rest of them.

Still, it was good fun to point out the lawn gnomes, scarecrow, abominable snowman, werewolf, etc from the books I used to read and a giant preying mantis could honestly only work this way. This is a perfectly functional family/Halloween-esque film that is thrilling without being too scary and has a plot twist that I truly didn't see coming; though the resolution is a bit too neat for my taste.

I don't know what took so long adapting this book series to the big screen, but it was a great trip down memory lane and I would gladly see a sequel!