This movie has its silly moments but overall is a good film to see with the whole family
Goosebumps was a very clever series of books. Kids of all ages loved to read them and there are a ton of books about sometimes obscure monsters that ended up making for a real good story. Not every book was black and white and sometimes they would surprise you. Goosebumps have been seen by generations of fans in a number of different ways but not like this. This film truly does brings all of these monsters to life to wreak havoc on a small town and makes for a fun movie to see with the family this weekend.
Zach Cooper (Dylan Minette) and his mom Gale (Amy Ryan) move from glamorous New York to the small town of Madison, Delaware where she is starting a new job. Zach is not sure he will ever like this town but he promises his mom he will give it a shot. Things start to look up for him a bit when he meets Hannah (Odeya Rush) who is a beautiful girl his age but her dad doesn’t want them to go near each other. He is a strange man who likes to keep to himself and no one really is sure what he does for a living.
One night when Zach is doing his homework he hears screaming coming from this house and is afraid Hannah is in some kind of danger. So off Zach and his new friend Champ (Ryan Lee) go to see just what is going on. They find a weird shelf all full of Goosebumps manuscripts that for some reason are locked. But when they accidentally open one they find out why real quick. It turns out Hannah’s dad is none other than R.L. Stine (Jack Black) they author of all of these famous books. But when all of the monsters get released somehow it up to them to find a way to put them back in before they are able to harm anyone. But with so many of them this will not be an easy mission. How will they capture them all again? Who is the one who is leading all of these monsters? And what is it that they want?
The film comes off many times as silly, but this is not always a bad thing. Most of the monsters are not scary but there are a few that are truly bad and will do whatever it takes to accomplish their goals. It was really cool to see these monsters crawl out of the pages and yet there are a few problems here. The cast works together okay but most of them are unknowns and the plot moves along at too simple of a pace sometimes which does drag the movie down. It would have also been nice to have a few more of the monsters to be truly terrifying, here they are mostly dumbed down and this is just a shame. Danny Elfman is behind the soundtrack and he does do a good job of adding scores and songs that in the end make this a fun comedic movie.
They film gets 7/10. Overall it is not a bad movie but in many ways it could have been better. The TV show was clever and unique and each episode was a great mystery right down to the final moments. This movie does not follow that pattern much. This writer understand that they wanted to make it their own but if they only added some of those elements this would definitely had been a better movie. Kids will love this one but it will not be for everyone.
If you are looking for a good movie to take the family to see this is the one to pick. If you are a fan of the Goosebumps books this may be a film you will enjoy. There is also a cool cameo that you must keep an eye out for, it is really awesome that they got that person in this movie. Take the family to see this one, they will have a lot of fun watching it.
Watch the monsters come to life here: