Review of Goosebumps (2015) by Chris A — 14 Jan 2016

Based on the trailers, this looked like crap. Based on the reviews, this looked pretty good. Based on watching the movie itself, this is barely adequate. Let me explain further.

I was pleasantly surprised that the villain was actually somewhat logical, and entirely entertaining as the villain, though could have had more moments to shine on the screen. Shame, because he was the main driving force for the movie and we got so little of him and so much of all the other pretty lame Goosebumps villains... yeah.

Another thing that's a shame is that we got so little out of the protagonists, mainly the new kid and the girl next door. I couldn't care less about the dweeb who befriends the new kid at school, to me he is just unbearably annoying. I would have sincerely liked more character-building for the new kid and girl next door characters, but their characters were shoved into the mold of said 'new kid' and 'girl next door' stereotypical roles and weren't given a chance to really do anything with them. I also would have liked more involving how the girl was 'fake' instead of the rushed crap we got towards the end.

Jack Black's character is... actually pretty funny. The first few times he appears on screen are really comical, and the rest he does more or less fits in well with the type of movie this is.

And what exactly is this movie's type? I'd say it's painfully cliche, predictable, but bearable, only because of Jack Black and the villain. But seriously, that one kid, what's his name? Ryan Scott Lee? He, himself, almost killed this movie for me.