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Goosebumps
Rating: A
Goosebumps. Just hearing the word immediately brings to mind many things for many people. Creepy places, dark houses, ghouls and goblins and things that go bump in the night...however if you are like me, the word brings to mind a collection of books that many have grown up with and cherished over the years. R.L. Stine was a fixture in my house growing up. One of the main reasons I became fascinated with scary stories is because of him and the Goosebumps book series. He let you tow the line between scary, but not too scary. Stine's books were the gateway to my current love for horror movies, scary stories, and things that creep in the night. After many years of waiting fans like myself will get a glimpse to see some of their favorite Goosebumps stories brought to life on the silver screen. Prepare to buckle up and let Goosebumps the movie take you for a ride back into some of these literary gems.
The film stars Jack Black as R.L. Stine (it's kinda perfect casting isn't it?), Dylan Minnette as Zach, the new guy in town, Odeya Rush as Hannah Stine, and Ryan Lee as Champ, Zach's only new friend in town. The story is very reminiscent of many of Stine's books, new kid, Zach moves to town, mysterious neighbor (Stine) lives next door with a daughter who he should probably keep away from but can't. When Zach thinks Hannah is being attacked by her father he rushes in to save her and in the process manages to unleash all the evil bad guys in every single one of R.L. Stine's Goosebumps books lead bu none other than Slappy the Dummy. They all must work together to save their town and get these bad guys back on paper where they belong before it's too late.
Now I know this many sound cheesy and believe me, it does have plenty of cheesy parts to it, but what I loved about this movie is that it brought to life many of the things that Iove about films this time of year. It is ultimately Jumanji meets Hocus Pocus, which I don't know about you, but I LOVE. I can easily see this being a movie I watch every Halloween to get me in the mood for the holidays. Like most films of this nature, it has something for everyone. There are jokes in there for younger kids and still plenty of humor for the adults. This, of course, is not a direct making of any one story, but a collection of all of them together and something about it just works.
The cast does a wonderful job of bringing this world to life and it was a pleasure to watch and am actually looking forward to seeing this one again. This has to be my favorite Jack Black film since School of Rock. He was made for this role, balancing equal parts funny and eccentric writer with a secret. Dylan Minnette, who you have seen before in films like Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day shows us he has what it takes to really take on a lead role. Odeya as Hannah brings the very necessary female balance to the film. Not gonna lie, though, my two favorite people in this movie were Ryan Lee as Champ and Jillian Bell as Lorraine (Zach's quirky Aunt). They were the perfect balance of comic relief in this movie that kept things light and fun.
Overall, you should pack up the family and head to the theaters this October and enjoy Goosebumps. You won't be disappointed.
Goosebumps hits theaters everywhere October 16th.