Goosebumps (2015) Review

"Who you calling "dummy"?"
-Slappy the Dummy



Zach Cooper (Dylan Minnette) and his mom, Gale (Amy Ryan), move from New York City to Delaware.  Zach meets his new neighbor, Hannah (Odeya Rush), who he quickly falls for, but her overprotective father (Jack Black) keeps her trapped in the house.  When Hannah seemingly goes missing, Zach and his new friend, Champ (Ryan Lee), break into her house to rescue her, only to discover Hannah's father is the author of the Goosebumps book series, R.L. Stine.  He has all of the monsters he has ever created trapped inside of his house and Dylan and Champ accidentally set them free.  Now Dylan, Champ, Hannah, and Stine have to ban together to recapture the monsters, but the most dangerous one, Slappy the Dummy (Jack Black), is determined not to go back and will do anything to stop them.


What Works:

I liked the Goosebumps books quite a bit growing up.  They are perfectly creepy and well-written for a young bookworm like myself.  I was worried this movie would try to do too much and fail to truly be a Goosebumps story, but that isn't the case.  The film is well balanced and does a great job of capturing the spirit of the series.  It's creepy, exciting, and fun for all ages.

Jack Black is perfectly cast in the role of R.L. Stine.  I have no idea what the author is like in real life, but this fictional version of him is a lot fun.  Black can really shine when put in the right role and he is the best part of this movie.  He's funny, grumpy, and has some depth.

Making Slappy the main antagonist of the film was a stroke of genius.  There are many memorable monsters and creatures in the series, but Slappy is probably the one kids were scared of the most and is easily the most memorable.  I'm glad they were able to cram so many different terrors in the film, but Slappy was the perfect choice to be the villain.

Finally, there are lot of fun and exciting sequences in this movie.  The whole movie is very fun, which is what the series is all about; good, spooky fun.  The sequences are very well done and have an effective amount of tension.  I especially like the invasion of the high school and the final showdown at the abandoned amusement park.  It's a fun movie and perfect for the Halloween season.


What Sucks:

There are two police officers in this film played by Timothy Simons and Amanda Lund who I really didn't like.  This movie is supposed to be fun and whimsical, so the characters don't need to be the most realistic, but these police officers take it too far.  Their stupidity stretches the limits of credibility and I couldn't stop rolling my eyes in their scenes.  I've seen a lot of stupid cops in movies, but these guys are in the conversation for dumbest cops ever.  Their dialogue is insulting to my intelligence and I can only be thankful that they have around three scenes in the movie.

Not all of the humor works.  Some of it is a little cringey for my taste, especially the stuff with the cops and some of dialogue from Zach's aunt (Jillian Bell), but that's all I got.


Verdict:

Goosebumps is a fun and spooky film that I love to watch in October.  It does a great job of capturing the spirit of the books, gives us a great performance from Jack Black, and a lot of really exciting sequences.  Not all of the humor works and the police characters are terrible, but this movie has absolutely got it going on!

 8/10: Really Good 

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