Well, I’ll tell you, I knew very little about Mr. Stine, his books, the TV show, and that made-for-DVD movie, only recognizing “Goosebumps” as some series targeted towards kids. Since the mid-80s, I’ve been a strict Stephen King fan, never really reading any other authors’ works until the late 90s, and that would consist of Bentley Little and Richard Laymon, later reading Brian Keene during the turn of the century. So if someone during that time asked me to pick up an R.L. Stine book and give it a try, I would’ve asked them what they were smoking.

Oddly enough, it wasn’t until I watched a YouTube presentation from an ongoing channel of videos by CinemaSins, that I really took notice of the film (I really recommend watching that channel on YouTube…it is hilarious). The video showed enough of the film to gain an interest from me that I decided to seek it out that very day…and as luck would have it, the movie was featured on Netflix’s list of streaming movies. So that night I sat down and watched Goosebumps.

So without further delay, here’s the synopsis for Goosebumps…
A teenager, Zach (Dylan Minnette), teams up with Hannah (Odeya Rush), the daughter of young adult horror author, R.L. Stine (Jack Black), after the writer’s imaginary demons are set free on the town of Madison, Delaware.
You know, I never thought a movie today would ever duplicate the feel of some of the best 80s movies that featured a team of children banding together to save the day. But Goosebumps succeeds in that quite a bit. I was constantly reminded of The Monster Squad at times and even Fright Night (the 1985 version, not the one from 2011) during the beginning.
Jack Black, playing the fictional version of the author, wondrously plays the part pretty straight, never acting too goofy but is still funny in his portrayal. In one scene in the film, where his character’s ousted as actually being R.L. Stine (the story has him and his daughter in hiding and not letting people know who he is, even using the fake name of Mr. Shivers), Jack Black delivers a funny line as to why R.L. Stine is a better author than “Steve” King.
Although I remember Dylan Minnette best for the deleterious bully in Let Me In, he easily slides into the protagonist’s role as the handsome-new-boy-next-door, Zach. I love his reactions to Jack Black’s character of the overly protection father when he first meets the girl next door, Hannah, and felt he handled the role well as the hero. Dylan Minnette and Odeya Rush were good together, displaying good chemistry on screen, you actually feel for these two as the story comes to an end—first feeling sad, then a moment of happiness towards the end.
Featured in this story as the comic relief is the character of Champ (Super 8’s Ryan Lee), a scrawny geek that latches on to Zach right away, naming him as his best friend and fits in perfectly for the tone of this film. Champ’s heroic deed later in the movie that gets him the girl that he has a crush on made me laugh and smile, especially since he’s such a comical chicken throughout most of the film.

Of course, the CGI monsters were something to be desired, not really rendered that well and sometimes appearing laughable. However, seeing that these were merely characters coming to life from fictional books, it’s forgivable and didn’t really take away from the film. The standout, of course, was the main baddie, Slappy (voiced by Jack Black), which is a ventriloquist dummy that speaks and moves on its own. This is where Jack Black leaves the straight-faced part of R.L. Stine to inject his over-the-top comedic talents—there, and when he voices “The Invisible Boy.”
It’s funny…something that came to mind more than once when watching this film is that I kept thinking I was seeing a Tim Burton film. It’s not that the movie has his visual style or quirky type of characters and I almost couldn’t understand why Burton came to mind. But when I glanced at the end-credits and saw who’d composed the music, I understood completely—Danny Elfman. Elfman’s music definitely works for this movie and I really couldn’t see (or hear) anyone else’s music in this soundtrack.

So, with all that, what is my final “bit” on Goosebumps?
I have to admit, I really didn’t think this movie would be anything but a little G-rated romp for kids. But I was wrong…way wrong. Although it may be a little scary at times for children, I see nothing wrong with having your little ones see this, considering they’re okay with some scary monsters here and there. The film contains enough references to adult-themed material for us adults to understand and a lot of eye candy to keep the kiddies in their seats, but it isn’t tasteless or profanity-laced (well, maybe there were a few minor swear words here and there). I thoroughly enjoyed this movie from start to finish and recommend it for people of all ages…you’ll have fun with Goosebumps.
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