Goosebumps (2015) Jack Black, Dylan Minnette, Odeya Rush, Ryan Lee, Amy Ryan, Jillian Bell, Halston Sage, Steven Krueger, Keith Arthur Bolden Movie Review

Goosebumps (2015)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Goosebumps (2015)

No Goosebumps for Me

Having just moved to the area Zach Cooper (Dylan Minnette - Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day) is the new kid in school and if that wasn't bad enough his mother, Gale (Amy Ryan), is the new assistant Principal at the school. On top of that he befriends the girl next door, Hannah (Odeya Rush - The Odd Life of Timothy Green), except her father (Jack Black - Gulliver's Travels) is strange and doesn't want Zach hanging around Hannah. But Zach discovers that Hannah's father is in fact R.L. Stine, the author of the Goosebumps novels which much to his shock turn out to be true when he accidentally unleashes several of the Goosebump monsters that Stine keeps locked up in a collection of sealed books.

I'm going to get straight to the point and say that "Goosebumps" the movie might be a lot of fun for those who are fans of R.L. Stine's Goosebumps books. Maybe for some seeing their favourite monsters, which they have read about, come to life on screen in this adventure comedy will be like their imagination coming to life. But for those who are not into their Goosebumps stories, monsters and characters this movie whilst still entertaining is nothing out of the ordinary, it doesn't take you off on an amazing adventure, a memorable escapade or a flight of unforgettable fancy.

So what does "Goosebumps" offer up to the uninitiated in the realms of R.L. Stone's literary fantasies? We have a couple of teens, a twist, Jack Black on fine comedic form and a lot of special effects as monsters and a creepy ventriloquists dummy comes to life to torment Stine, Zach, Hannah as well as their toothy friend Champ. All of which is fast paced and fun but then so are so many other movies and as such "Goosebumps" becomes not one of those movies you think "I really need to watch again" but one of those movies which may come to mind when Halloween circles around and you are looking for some safe monster mischief to for the family to watch.

What this all boils down to is that "Goosebumps" simply didn't give me Goosebumps. But it did give me plenty of fun, some familiar adventure and a whole host of special effects which when you put all of that together equalled an entertaining but not particularly memorable 103 minutes.


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