DIRECTED BY: Rob Letterman

STARRING: Dylan Minnette, Jack Black, Odeya Rush, Amy Ryan, Ryan Lee, Jillian Bell, Halston Sage, Ken Marino, Timothy Simons, Amanda Lund, Steven Krueger and Keith Arthur Bolden

SYNOPSIS

A teenager teams up with the daughter of young adult horror author R. L. Stine after the writer’s imaginary demons are set free on the town of Madison, Delaware. 

Goosebumps has us follow a teenager named Zach Cooper and his mother Gale moving from New York City to the small town of Madison, Delaware. Zach is still mourning the death of his father in his own way until he meets the young girl next door Hannah which eases his initial hesitation about moving to Delaware. The problem is Hannah’s mysterious father who acts strangely. There’s a reason for it however as the father happens to be R.L Stine, famous writer of the Goosebumps series that is a prisoner of his own imagination as it were. One day Zach unintentionally unlocks a book from a shelf stacked with locked books, unleashing a monster in the process. The monsters that his books made famous are real, and Stine protects everyone else by keeping them locked up in their books. It’s up to them and Zach’s socially awkward new friend Champ to get them all back into the books where they belong.

Goosebumps is the film adaptation based on a series of children books from R.L Stine, which sold over 350 million worldwide and also had a television series which ran for a few years in the late 90’s. Actually it seems weird now that it took so long for Goosebumps to get a big screen outing (there was a slight attempt back in the late 90’s when Tim Burton was attached at one point). Surprisingly, Goosebumps is actually a rather decently crafted family film.

The film takes a brief period of calm in introducing the characters before chaos ensues in the small town of Madison, Delaware. We see Zach not only having to cope with the loss of his father, but also having to adjust with the relocation of the big city life in New York to the small town of Madison, though things start to take a turn, good and bad, when he meets the girl next door named Hannah. It’s here he meets her rather bizarre old man who just happens to be children’s author R.L Stine. It helps for the viewers that may not be familiar with the books or even the television series at all (if you grew up in the 90’s you couldn’t avoid either) that this film adaptation creates a film that no only pays homage to what came before but makes it open to people unfamiliar with the material as it doesn’t focus on one particular book but rather brings a load of them together in a Jumanji-esque family adventure. Granted the film feels like you’ve seen the same beats before but it carries a certain amount of charm and doesn’t talk down to it’s audience (kids) or be too emotional with certain material (letting go of a loved one after death) and doesn’t rely too heavily on inside jokes to the older audience (through the lines about ‘Steve’ King and the impressive amount of books he sold). It helps for some of the monsters here that some of the CGI holds pretty well for them (particularly enjoyed the way the gnomes were done) while others were passable at the least (werewolf). The young cast are good in their roles, particularly Ryan Lee as the traditionally nerdy and terrified best friend Champ. The stick may come annoying for his scary nature (the screams!) but it works well here with the material written. Jack Black is an actor whether you love him or you hate him but here I think his portrayal of R.L Stine is his best work in a while, ranging from creepy to unintentionally funny with his mannerisms.

While the script work handled better than I expected, a few things irked me and that being that the majority of the adults are complete and utter idiots. I know, a family film it’s rare to go without adults looking like idiots but some feel unnecessarily so, such as the two cops in particular as well as Zach’s aunt. The film is predictable and relies on a few clichés but it helps that it is executed with care for the material. Slappy’s zingers may be one to many for a few people.

VERDICT

Predictable but more fun than I thought it had any right to be with some good performances relying on a young cast to bounce off the eccentric Jack Black on top form here. There’s no need for a Jumanji remake as this fills that void for a new audience.  6/10