I'm a 90's kid, and growing up, Goosebumps played a big part of my childhood, both the books and the television series. It's what got me reading in the first place. I can safely assume that most young adults in their early to mid twenties today knew about R.L. Stine's popular series, and if you didn't read them, you at least knew what they were, or you were mesmerized by Tim Jacobus's awesome Goosebumps book cover art. Now I'll be honest, I did not like the trailers. They felt very generic and annoying, but some part of me knew that despite the mediocre trailers, <more> it was going to be, at the very least a moderately decent film at best. Once the reviews started kicking in and seeing how positive they were, my expectations grew, and after seeing it I'm happy to report that this film is very fun. The idea of a Goosebumps film always intrigued me. I liked the filmmakers out of the box and almost meta approach. They didn't adapt one Goosebumps book, they used up all of them which was smart on their part. Adapting just one Goosebumps book, there really isn't much of a movie there, just an episode like the television series in the 90's. Using all the monsters creates more story-telling possibilities and the self-awareness that was at play worked. The main cast is pretty close to stellar. You would think that there wouldn't be too much layers within a film like this, but surprisingly there are some tender moments. Jack Black is superb. He plays R.L. Stine a little more on edge and a little more sinister. You can tell he was having fun in the role and cause of it you can fun as well. Stine's characterization is also surprisingly well done, there isn't a whole lot, but it's enough to keep you intrigued. You discover he created these monsters out of loneliness and it provides some sympathy for him which is a nice touch. Dylan Minnette, Odeya Rush, and Ryan Lee make up an entertaining trio of young leads. Minnette as Zach plays it a little straight, but he carries the film very well, Rush is good as the romantic and mysterious girl Hannah, she and Minnette play off each other well, there are some uneven moments within the dialog involving some romantic scenes but for the most part is almost works. Ryan Lee provides the comic relief like he did in J.J. Abram's Super 8. Jillian Bell and Amy Ryan aren't given too much to do as Zach's aunt and mom, but they are involved within the story so it was nice to see that. I didn't really care for the two officers in the film, they came off as forced comedy. As for the monsters, they rule. Obviously some have more to do than the others, but they are very cool to look at. At times you kinda wish that there were more monster moments. The Werewolf of Fever Swamp sequence at the market was quite entertaining, The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena is causing mayhem, Dr. Brewer's plant monsters from Stay Out of the Basement were cool, the lawn gnomes were freaky, there's a mummy, a giant Praying Mantis, an evil clown, and zombies that are all in the mix. But the real star is Slappy. He is R.L. Stine's darker personality embodied as a ventriloquist dummy, who is also voiced by Black, and is one heck of a villain. I would argue he steals the show. I loved that I got a sense of danger in the film, these monsters were actually trying to kill people in the film, so some stakes are involved and you come to care enough about the characters. Now despite them looking real cool, I thought all the cgi monsters like the Werewolf, the Yeti, or even the blob looked unpolished in a lot of the scenes. You can clearly tell it was a computer generated creature. A little more polishing wouldn't have hurt the overall look. Also, just a minor nitpick, I really hoped I would get to see The Haunted Mask, but I didn't, perhaps Carly Beth was in the shot where all the monsters assembled and I just missed it. Again, there were some forced humor involving the two police officers in the film that just didn't work, and some corny written dialog and corny delivery of lines here and there, particularly the romantic scenes. The pacing of this film is brisk, it moves very fast and there isn't a dull moment. I would imagine that should this film be successful and I hope it is, that it would be a little difficult to make another one because all the monsters were used in one film, but hopefully they'll come up with something cool. This film is simply a nostalgia bomb. Combining elements from other films such as The Monster Squad, Gremlins, Goonies, and Jumanji. It's not scary if you're a grown ass young adult like I am, but the entire time you appreciate the scares cause it would frighten you if you were a lot younger. Lots of children were creeped out in the theater, and kudos to Rob Letterman and his crew for not compromising the scary elements. They really push the boundaries for a family/kid-friendly horror film. Goosebumps is destined to be a Halloween classic. 8.3/10 <less> |