Goosebumps - Review

Goosebumps

Plot summary:

One year after his father died, Zach Cooper and his mother, Gale move from New York to Madison, Delaware. Once there, he meets a girl named Hannah, who’s his neighbour. One particular day, Zach, and his friend, Champ, unlocks a Goosebumps book written by R.L. Stein, which was among many others that was in Hannah’s house, and to their surprise, unleashes a monster from within it. In their struggle to get away from this monster, another book is unlocked, which lets out a ventriloquist’s dummy who then unlocks all the other books, unleashing a horde of monsters unto the town. Now, Zach, Champ, Hannah, and her father, who’s revealed to be R.L. Stein himself, set out to entrap the horde of monsters once again.

Review:

Jack Black definitely pulls off the whole grumpy and antisocial next-door neighbour character really well. Brilliant acting, no doubt. And Dylan Minnette does justice to his character, tuning into the the teen still recovering from losing his father just a year ago. Odeya Rush does a very good job as well, acting as the teen who’s restricted from having much of a life, but still remains rebellious and adventurous. And not forgetting Ryan Lee, who definitely hits the mark in acting as the cowardly Champ, right down to the screaming.

The plot was great – the events kept going, introducing one menacing obstacle after the next for these  four characters to overcome, not to mention it increasing the comedic scenes along the way as well. And there were some pretty good jumpscares put in there as well. The cops introduced int this movie were quite silly – not that it was bad. It all adds well to the comedy. And Slappy? That character is pretty great. A psychopathic ventriloquist’s dummy terrorizing the whole town while riding a haunted car. Not to mention he’s funny, and loaded with puns. And it’s Jack Black who’s voicing Slappy too, on the other hand. Once again, brilliantly done. There’s a lot of CGI involved in this movie, in bringing all the monsters to life – and they’re all astonishing. This movie also temporarily focuses on loss, loneliness, and the hard ways you cope with it in a couple of scenes, mainly the one scene between Black and Minnette. This movie is packed with laughs and is indeed a fantastic movie to watch. 

Here's the trailer:

Goosebumps - Official Trailer 2

Here's the movie:

Goosebumps