Goosebumps - Movie Review

Who's In It?

Dylan Minnette, Odeya Rush, Ryan Lee and Jack Black


What's It About?
Zach believes his new neighbour is abusing his daughter and sneaks into their house to rescue her. After accidentally opening a locked book, he discovers his Neighbour is R.L. Stine and his locked Goosebumps manuscripts release the monsters into the real world.

Any Good?

I remember growing up with Goosebumps, reading the books in primary school then watching the show because Are You Afraid of the Dark was too scary for me. I'm delighted to say that the film really captured the feel of the (pretty bad looking back) tv show with a bit more comedy.

The movie is pure cheese (as was the show, which is on Netflix!), but the monsters themselves looked great - in a B movie way. It's not that the monsters were bad, they were actually fantastically animated in both design and movement; but they were obviously designed for 3D in some scenes and it gives them a weird look.

I'd mentally blocked out Slappy for YEARS

The cast actually is made up of younger people which surprised me, because the main character who's my age (20) looks about 30. The younger characters were just the usual teenage movie actors, but I really liked Jack Black as R.L. Stine and Slappy. He was mostly himself as R.L. Stine, but as Slappy he did his best Joker impression to remind me how much that doll freaked me out.

I'd been cautiously optimistic when I first read about this movie a few years back, but I really enjoyed it. It opens as a bit like Fright Night, but becomes it's own as the film goes on. It's a great B-style movie which I had a lot of fun with, I'd recommend it for new kids and people who grew up with the series. 

Rating: