investigate, Shivers assures Officer Stevens Timothy Simons and Officer Brooks Amanda Lund that the scream was from a movie. The officers lecture Zach about wasting the police's time and leave as Gale reprimands Zach.Suspicious of Shivers and fearing Hannah is in danger, Zach anonymously calls Shivers and pretends to be a police officer and tells him to come to the police station for further questioning. Once he is gone, Zach and Champ break into Shivers' house in search of Hannah. They find several manuscripts from the Goosebumps book series, all of which are locked. They unlock The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena, but are confronted by Hannah who assumes they are burglarizing the house. Zach clears up the misunderstanding. But when he accidentally opens the unlocked book, the Abominable Snowman emerges from it and breaks out of the house. In the ensuing chaos, the Night of the Living Dummy manuscript is accidentally unlocked as well. Zach, Champ, and Hannah pursue the Abominable Snowman to a local ice rink where it attacks them, but Shivers appears and sucks it back into the book.On the way home, it is revealed that "Mr. Shivers" is actually R.L. Stine, the author of the Goosebumps books. He explains to the three kids that he created the books' monsters when he was a child to cope with severe bullying. However, the monsters became real and he had to lock them in their manuscripts. Returning to the house, Stine and the kids are confronted by Slappy the Dummy voiced by Jack Black , the villain of Night of the Living Dummy who is angry about being imprisoned. Before Stine can capture him, Slappy burns his own manuscript and flees with the other manuscripts in The Haunted Car. The Lawn Gnomes from Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes are also freed. Zach, Hannah and Champ help Stine smash them into pieces, but each gnome reforms itself making them realize that they cannot be destroyed.Slappy frees the other Goosebumps monsters, destroys their manuscripts, and leads them on a destructive rampage across Madison where the Body Squeezer from Invasion of the Body Squeezers Pt. 1 and 2 freeze the entire police department. Zach suggests to Stine to write a new book that will trap every monster, but he can only do it on a special typewriter which is at the high school. He and the kids are attacked by various Goosebumps monsters on their way to the school including Brent Green the invisible boy also voiced by Jack Black from My Best Friend is Invisible and a giant mantis from A Shocker On Shock Street. Will Blake's werewolf form from The Werewolf of Fever Swamp pursues them in an abandoned supermarket. They escape and Zach's aunt Lorraine Jillian Bell hits the werewolf with her car. As Stine and the kids continue toward the high school through the cemetery, Zach notices that Hannah glows a ghostly blue in the moonlight. Before he can ask her about it, a zombie bursts out of the ground. After they escape the zombies from Welcome To Dead House and the Graveyard Ghouls from Attack of the Graveyard Ghouls in the cemetery, he privately questions Stine about Hannah's existence. Stine reveals that she is not real, but a Goosebumps character he created after his wife died, though Hannah is unaware of this.At the school, they find the typewriter and Stine starts working on the new book. However, Slappy confronts Stine and breaks his fingers before it can be finished. The monsters attack the school during a fall dance where the giant mantis grabs a person and the swarms of bees from Why I'm Afraid of Bees and the mutant plants from Stay Out of the Basement get into the school. Champ rescues Taylor Halston Sage from Will Blake's werewolf form by biting him with his silver teeth fillings and they kiss. The students have to barricade themselves inside to keep the other monsters out.Stine and the kids board a bus and lead the monsters away from the school to an abandoned carnival on the outskirts of town. Slappy catches up with them in the Funhouse and unleashes the giant blob from The Blob That Ate Everyone. While Stine distracts the monsters, Zach finishes the story, but is reluctant to open the book because Hannah will be trapped inside it as well. Hannah reveals that she knew she was not real all along and opens the book. Slappy and the monsters are all sucked into it, and while Zach tries to hold on to her, Hannah accepts her fate and is sucked in as well after they kiss.Some time later, Stine has started working at the high school as an English teacher. After class, Zach asks him if he misses Hannah, but Hannah suddenly reappears. Stine reveals that he wrote her back into existence with another book. She and Zach kiss and leave school together while Stine burns Hannah's manuscript and tosses it in the garbage. As Stine prepares to leave the school, he sees the typewriter typing "The Invisible Boy's Revenge" by itself revealing that Brent Green had somehow evaded capture. Stine screams as his hand prints appear on the cabinet's glass.This movie is absolutely excellent for all ages.

It's enough to… give you goose bumps. That, of course, is the name of Stine's most popular series of books, brought to the big screen in the film "Goosebumps" PG, 1:43 .Fans of the series may wonder which of the books is the basis for the movie. The answer is none of them – and all of them. Rather than adapting any one of Stine's books, which are, admittedly, relatively short as Stephen King exclaims, "Ah-HAH! See?" , this film imagines a world in which Stine's monsters come to life and terrorize a small town, while R.L. Stein himself, along with a few local teenagers, attempt to recapture the creatures and save the town. I won't spoil the movie, except to say that, in the end, we Movie Fans get a film that is as exciting and delightful as any of the books that inspired this story.The film has Jack Black portraying Stine as an unfriendly recluse in the tiny fictional town of Madison, Delaware. Showing Stine as a movie character which we get to know as a man, but is only a fictionalized version of the real person recalls movies like Charlie Kaufman's 1999 fantasy comedy-drama "Being John Malkovich" or Matthew LeBlanc starting in 2011 playing himself as an adorable jerk in the Showtime comedy series "Episodes". Black's Stine calls himself Mr. Shivers. He's a widower who lives in a big house with his kind, but mischievous 16-year-old daughter, Hannah Odeya Rush , whom he homeschools. Moving in right next door is Madison High School's new assistant principal, recently widowed Gale Cooper Amy Ryan , and her teenage son, Zach Dylan Minnette , still grieving the loss of his father. Gale's sweetly clueless sister, Loraine Jillian Bell greets them with open arms, but Zach and Gale simply have a lot of adjusting to do – and new people to meet. Gale is almost immediately hit on by shy fellow educator, Coach Carr Ken Marino , while an awkward nerd ironically named Champ Ryan Lee traps the new guy into a friendship. It's a good thing for Zach that Hannah is such a pleasure to be around.One night when Zach looks towards his new neighbor's house and thinks he sees Mr. Shivers abusing Hannah, he calls Champ and they steal into the house. Zach and Champ see that Hannah's okay, but not before they find a key and open a locked "Goosebumps" manuscript among many on a shelf in Mr. Shivers' study. The book is "The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena" and unlocking the manuscript allows a large, furry creature to literally jump off the page. The three teens run after him, Hannah telling them that the monster can only be re-captured by sucking him back into the book from whence he came. The Abominable Snowman wreaks havoc on the town until Mr. Shivers shows up to save the day.In the destruction that the creature caused in the study, all the manuscripts fell to the floor and one of them popped open – one releasing the evil Slappy the Dummy. Slappy unleashes complete mayhem in Madison – on the night of a big high school dance nonetheless. The police a hilarious Timothy Simons and Amanda Lund are no help, but few people would be. That ventriloquist dummy serves as the ringleader of a gang of dangerous and destructive creations including a wolfman, a maniacal clown, a herd of garden gnomes and a gargantuan praying mantis. They all want revenge on their creator for keeping them locked up so long. And Stein is the only one who even has a chance of stopping them. When Stine's creations come to life, besides clear memories of Robin Williams' 1995 hit "Jumanji", this situation reminds us of Emma Thompson's author writing Will Ferrell's character into existence in 2006's "Stranger Than Fiction", or the underseen 1979 thriller "Time After Time" in which the character of H.G. Wells author of the sci-fi classic "The Time Machine" uses profits from his writing to build a working time machine which one of his friends uses to escape the police and continue a killing spree when it is discovered that he's Jack the Ripper. "Goosebumps" deserves a place among these other great films.This film's story may not be completely original, but it feels fresh and it is fantastically well executed. All of the actors are perfectly cast even Jack Black, who, in our opinion, seems to have had more misses than hits in his career . With the help of a story by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, a script by Darren Lemke and the direction of Rob Letterman, this cast and this story hit the perfect balance between frightening and fun – just like the "Goosebumps" books themselves. The script is very funny and the dialog and character interactions are charming from the very beginning to the very end of the movie. The interesting characters, the story's danger and adventure, along with the excitement and humor all seamlessly contribute to a simply wonderful family film that will appeal to kids of all ages, even if they don't know their goose bumps from their speed bumps or their Kings from their Stines. "A+"

about when he was younger. The best person to play it Jack Black's son. Father like Son...

by any means, but if you want to see a great family friendly film that makes you laugh or feel you with nostalgia, I recommend Goosebumps!

imaginations because if we see it happening to them, it could happen to us too, right? And when done correctly they can really be memorable.While this film is only partially animated, it takes place in the real world with live-action humans. In Goosebumps, the motion picture based on R.L. Stine's enormously successful children's book series of the same name, Zach Dylan Minnette and his mother move to the suburban town of Madison, Delaware. Zach gripes a lot about there being nothing to do in his new city until the mysterious homeschooled neighbor girl Odeya Rush befriends him and he develops an interest in her. One night he's led to believe that she may be imprisoned by her own father, a fictionalized version of R.L. Stine himself Jack Black , and sneaks into her house. He discovers a bookshelf full of Goosebumps manuscripts which he decides to explore. Opening the first story releases a 10-foot tall abominable snowman who starts wreaking havoc throughout the town. Eventually, one by one, each story gets opened up with the books' respective monsters coming to life trying to kill their creator, Stine.Some may consider it a bad thing, but this movie does a great job of not holding back any scares. Adults shouldn't have too hard of a time--although certain monsters may tap into your own personal phobias--but it will definitely haunt many children. But that's what makes Goosebumps so appealing. It keeps the visuals acceptable, but never tones itself down. When I was little we had the anthology television show Are You Afraid of the Dark? which still creeps me out as an adult. Goosebumps is frightening, but it's a harmless scare. It provides us with the same macabre tone of the novels--probably much to the dismay of some of the parents.It gets most of the character background out of the way early on in the first third of the film, which gives itself room to run free for the last hour or so. However, it lets most of that information sit idle for the rest of the film--some of which never really gets revisited.The movie hits its stride about 20 minutes in when we start witnessing Stine's creepiness first hand and the books start coming to life. We are dying to know why it's happening and how to stop it, and that information may be given away a bit too easily. But not to worry because, in true R.L. Stine fashion, we still get our fill of twists throughout.What this film does really well, albeit stylistically inconsistent at times, is make us laugh. The humor works well on both adult and kid levels. It's really a funny movie and it does so without becoming too irreverent. We still feel like something's at stake, but the jokes help to lighten to the tone on the scarier elements of the film. I think one reason why live-action family films have failed in recent years is because filmmakers have lost touch with what makes kids laugh. They know kids want to see something really outrageous that they would only be able to see in animation, but I think this film may be on to something by aiming the jokes back up to the grownups and not dumbing them down. It doesn't fall back on cheap slapstick or fart jokes to get laughs--it's gets them with some pretty solid comedic timing and by finding cleaner versions of the humor that's popular in recent R-rated comedies.Goosebumps may not be a Best Picture nominee, but it's extremely enjoyable and acts as a great tribute to R.L. Stine's famed franchise. It elicits our imagination and does so through the medium of literature. And there is also a nod to Steve McQueen's The Blob, which is one of my favorites.Although I would have liked to have seen just a handful of stories explored in depth rather than all the stories being briefly touched upon with highlights on maybe 3 or 4, I'm sure the future sequels will do a better job focusing in on one or two stories. Despite the slightly rocky pacing and the minor, yet sloppy, plot holes, Goosebumps will please fans of the book series and will bring adults back to the days when their imaginations weren't so jaded. Hopefully the success of this film will help set the trend for a return of live-action family films.Twizard Rating: 87 **Review can also be found at TheTwizard.com**

they're set up to be the ice rink Abominable Snowman sequence, the praying mantis chase and the 3D really added to the imagination of the intensity. The comedy is also very witty, with most of it being sharp verbal gags and occasionally a goofy visual joke. Goosebumps is the most fun excluding The Martian I've had at the movies since Ant-Man, and it's good, clean, funny and intense entertainment that families will have a great time with. Stick around for a cool 3D credit sequence if you pay for the extra dimension.

this movie is going to win any awards, but if you just want to have a good time at the movies, then go check it out.

monsters from your favorite book make an appearance on the big screen.It's not just a fun film as some of the monsters were real creepy. Like the Gnome army, the giant prey mantis and especially a ventriloquist "puppet" voiced by Jack Black who also plays a fictional version of Stine .It's a great time at the movies.

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