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.
Director: Rob Letterman
Writers: Darren Lemke (screenplay),
Scott Alexander (story)
Stars: Jack Black, Dylan Minnette,
Odeya Rush
Storyline
Upset about moving from a big city to
a small town, teenager Zach Cooper (Dylan Minnette) finds a silver lining when
he meets the beautiful girl, Hannah (Odeya Rush), living right next door. But
every silver lining has a cloud, and Zach's comes when he learns that Hannah
has a mysterious dad who is revealed to be R. L. Stine (Jack Black), the author
of the bestselling Goosebumps series. It turns out that there is a reason why
Stine is so strange... he is a prisoner of his own imagination - the monsters
that his books made famous are real, and Stine protects his readers by keeping
them locked up in their books. When Zach unintentionally unleashes the monsters
from their manuscripts and they begin to terrorize the town, it's suddenly up
to Stine, Zach, Hannah, and Zach's friend Champ (Ryan Lee) to get all of them
back in the books where they belong.
Movie Reviews
Anyone who was a kid or had a kid
over the past twenty years knows what Goosebumps are, and R.L. Stine finally
gets an upgrade from the small screen to a major motion picture by Sony
Pictures, and we're satisfied.
A teenage boy Zach and his mom move
to Delaware, where Zach promptly runs into his next door neighbor Hannah and
her odd father. When Zach thinks Hannah is in danger, he springs to be savior,
but things aren't quite what they appear. Her dad is hiding a secret, and when
Zach and his new friend Champ disregard the father's warnings, amazingly scary
things come to life.
Goosebumps the film is made for the
kids, this isn't the type of film that is trying to bridge the age gap at being
universally beloved. Lucky for the film, its makers know their market and the
children in my theater loved it, and for this kid at heart, we liked it too.
One of the smartest decisions the
filmmakers made in making an R.L. Stine film adaptation of the beloved book
series Goosebumps was casting Jack Black as the token 'adult' in the film.
While we know Black has aged in real life, he is one of the few men in
Hollywood who hasn't lost his wonder, and that transcends the big screen. He
may put on a funny accent for the role of R.L. Stine but he has the right
sentiment and that is obvious to audience members.
The rest of the cast is equally
wholesome and approachable, with each of the three teens (Dylan Minnette, Odeya
Rush and Ryan Lee) being equally effective in their roles. The characters they
portray aren't anything extraordinary or new, but they are archetypes we know
and enjoy. The stand out among the three would be Odeya Rush and scenes where
the kids are interacting with one another.
Goosebumps does one thing that we
wish would've been a bit bolder, and that is stray away from the horror and air
more on the side of family adventure comedy. It's like Jumanji with zombies
instead of a stampede of African wildlife. And that is also where it loses
points for originality, as adult film goers will see the same plot line in a
different skin, which is a tad disappointing for something as creative as the
Goosebumps book series.
There are scares, especially for
those ages 12 and under, almost all 'jump scares' of the fun variety. And that
is the type of tone Goosebumps is aiming for, fun and entertaining. Of course,
being a fan of the series when I was a kid, I hoped for the creatures from the
pages of the books to be a bit more eerie, but alas.
Anyone who says this film is a
complete disappointment must have lost their inner child ages ago. They are
probably the type that says Santa Clause doesn't exist either or that monsters
under the bed aren't real – and we all know those things are true. Goosebumps
gets our seal of approval for popcorn, feet up, enjoyment.
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reviews of all the recent releases.
