With the same witty humor and creatively creepy monsters from R.L. Stine’s successful preteen horror fiction series, “Goosebumps” emerges in theaters as an entertaining, if not slightly cheesy, family-friendly film.
Dedicated “Goosebumps” readers will be a little wary at first, wondering whether Hollywood turned this into another great book, horrible movie mess. Instead, “Goosebumps” just feels nostalgic, with only a few cringe-worthy jokes.
Of course, it’s not what “Goosebumps” fans may have expected. Rather than choose a single monster like the books, director Rob Letterman chose to throw nearly all of them into a 103-minute production. The movie shifts perspective to the life of R.L. Stine (Jack Black) after writing all his books — and selling 400 million copies worldwide, as the movie makes sure to include — and combines the real world with Stine’s creations.
Some may roll their eyes at this plotline, but hey, it’s a kid’s movie. And it’s surprisingly delightful.
The plot developed nicely, beginning with a family’s move from New York to Madison, Delaware. High school student Zach (Dylan Minnette) and his “adorkable” mother (Amy Ryan) are just settling in to their new home when Zach meets his first friend and potential crush Hannah (Odeya Rush), their playful and adventurous next-door neighbor.
Things seem to be going well, with the exception of Hannah’s eccentric, overprotective father, and Zach’s biggest problem revolves around an attempt to juggle his embarrassing Aunt Lorraine (Jillian Bell) and Mom’s trying-too-hard puns.
Then one night, Zach hears a scream from next door. He and his geeky new acquaintance Champ (Ryan Lee) rush over, thinking Hannah is in danger. They even pull out some typical teenage boy theatrics while figuring out what to do, eventually breaking into her basement.
Sound extreme? It gets even better. Hannah’s father turns out to be R.L. Stine, and he has a secret. Apparently every single one of the monsters he wrote about is real, and they are all trapped inside locked, leather-bound books. When Zach accidentally unlocks one, the Abominable Snowman leaps off the pages, followed by Slappy the cursed ventriloquist dummy, haunted lawn gnomes, a vicious werewolf and more.
From there, the story turns into a Jumanji-like hunt, with Zach, Hannah, Stine and Champ racing through the town to try and suck the monsters back into the books.
So it seems a little predictable. But as Stine says, “Every story has three parts: a beginning, a middle and a twist.” There are quite a few twists as the story unfolds, keeping the audience captivated. Throw in Jack Black’s overly exaggerated facial expressions, a cutesy teenage romance and a couple of loveable sidekicks and the product is wonderfully silly and genuinely heartwarming, as all children’s movies should be.
Though Black’s comic relief usually steals the show, “Goosebumps” stays focused on developing the plot. Don’t get me wrong, Black’s expressive eyes and snarky comments kept the audience laughing, sometimes at his clever one-liners and other times just out of his sheer awkwardness. But, Minnette and Rush each play equally important roles, working together in most of the high-intensity scenes, including running from zombies, rolling down a hill in an abandoned Ferris wheel, battling the Abominable Snowman in an ice-skating rink — you get the picture.
However, Black’s character undoubtedly goes through the most growth as the movie progresses, transforming from a freaky, strict parent to a warm companion. By the end of the movie, he is back to right where Black’s characters usually are — huggable and hilarious.
It would make sense to wonder about the “scary” aspect of the film at this point, since “Goosebumps” is often described as a preteen horror series. As mentioned before, the creators decided to unleash nearly all of Stine’s monsters, which could be a bit overwhelming for some people.
Though potentially overpowering, the variety of monsters actually opens the audience up to an entire world of imagination. Keeping the film’s young target audience in mind, none of the computerized monsters are too frightening. Fortunately, however, the film still allows the original, disturbing nature of Stine’s books to shine through.
“Goosebumps” doesn’t take itself too seriously, and in this way, it delights the audience members by bringing out their inner goofball. The movie doesn’t make you think deeply or reflect on your life — it simply provides a way for you to get into the fun Halloween spirit and maybe even give you a few goose bumps.
“Goosebumps” opens in theaters Friday.
