Reel Opinions


Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Goosebumps

Before seeing this movie, my only experience with R.L. Stine's Goosebumps series of books was when I worked at a library, and would be putting his books back on the shelf.  They all had outlandish covers, with appropriately B-Movie titles like "Night of the Living Dummy", "The Cuckoo Clock of Doom" and "Monster Blood".  This new film adaptation is pretty much what I expected from looking at those covers long ago.  It's silly, energetic and just weird and spooky enough that kids will have a great time watching it.  What I didn't expect is how much I would enjoy it myself.  There are some moments where I genuinely laughed out loud, and it's just a lot of fun to watch.

Rather than try to adapt any of Stine's books, the filmmakers have instead decided to place the author himself (played here by a very game Jack Black) in the middle of a plot that brings many of his classic monsters, demons, ghouls and evil ventriloquist dummies to life.  Director Rob Letterman and screenwriter Darren Lemke (working from a story by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski) find the right tone with the plot.  The set up of a teenager thinking that there is something weird and possibly murderous going on at the house next door has a certain Rear Window quality to it.  From there, it builds into a full-blown adventure story that hits the right notes of being creepy and fun.  The "scary" moments of the story are tense, but not so much so that kids of a certain age (I'd say around 8) can't handle it.  And even if the story does start to get a little scary, it's always in a way that lets the audience know you're not supposed to be taking this all that seriously.  For example, when the heroes are being chased down by a werewolf, the creature is wearing what looks like gym shorts for some reason.  I'm sure it makes sense if you've read the books, but it still got a laugh from me.

The plot kicks off when lonely teenager Zach (Dylan Minnette) moves with his mom (Amy Ryan) to the sleepy little town of Madison, Delaware.  Zach is not happy about his new surroundings ("Couldn't we live in Guantanamo Bay or North Korea?"), and is still trying to get over the recent death of his father.  At his new school, he quickly becomes friends with the awkward and geeky Champ (Ryan Lee).  But more importantly, he catches the eye of the sweet 16-year-old girl living next door, Hannah (Odeya Rush).  There's an obvious connection between the two, but Hannah is being kept under the strict and watchful eye of her obsessive father, "Mr. Shivers", who forbids her from being with anyone or going outside of the house.  We soon learn that her father is actually R.L. Stine, the reclusive author who wrote the series of Goosebumps books back in the 90s, but now spends his life moving from town to town, running from someone or possibly something.

Zach suspects something sinister going on at the Stine home when he hears what sounds like violent arguments between Hannah and her father late at night from his window.  He tries to report a domestic disturbance to the police, but when the cops arrive, everything seems normal.  This does not deter Zach from learning the truth.  While Stine is gone, he gets his friend Champ and they decide to investigate the house together.  As they search for information, they come across a room filled with Goosebumps manuscripts that are strangely being kept under lock and key.  Opening one of the books happens to somehow magically unleash the creature within, in this case the Abominable Snowman of Pasadena.  It seems that all of Stine's monsters that he has been writing about for years are real, as he has always had the ability to dream up creatures and bring them into reality.  He has kept them locked in these books all this time, and now that our heroes have accidentally released one, the other monsters want their freedom back as well.

Zach and his friends have the misfortune of accidentally unleashing one of Stine's most evil creations, a possessed ventriloquist dummy named Slappy (voiced by Jack Black, pulling double duty).  The malevolent little guy sets about releasing each and every monster from their proper book, and then burning the manuscript so that they can't be returned to their literary prisons.  Before long, the entire town is besieged by evil lawn gnomes, giant praying mantises, vampire poodles, killer clowns, and aliens with freeze ray guns.  As Stine joins up with the kids to face the demons he has created, he realizes that the only way to save the people is to write a new story that contains every monster he's ever written about, and trap them inside one book.  If this all sounds silly, that's because it is.  It's also a lot of fun.  Playing the famed children's horror author, Jack Black is obviously having a blast portraying him as a cantankerous and egotistical man who is so full of himself, he gets offended when someone calls him a Stephen King knockoff.  He also enjoys casually dropping the worldwide number of his book sales in the middle of a conversation for no reason.  Like the movie itself, Black finds the right note of intensity and humor with the various characters he plays throughout the film. (Aside from Stine and the evil Slappy, he also provides the voice for another monster, the mischievous Invisible Boy.)

The whole cast is actually much better than I expected.  Dylan Minnette and Odeya Rush make for a sweet on-screen couple, and they even get to share a nice moment when they visit an abandoned amusement park for a romantic scene early in the film.  Ryan Lee has the role as the comic relief best friend, and while he comes across as a bit grating at first, he does settle into the role and never becomes as annoying as I feared he would be at first.  There are also a number of supporting adult characters who get some big laughs through, chief among them being Jillian Bell as Zach's lovesick Aunt Lorraine.  Bell is becoming one of those actresses who show up in small roles in movies, and always winds up making a big impression.  She stole every scene she was in last year with 22 Jump Street, and here she does the same.  I also laughed a lot at the banter between Amanda Lund and Timothy Simons as a pair of over-zealous cops who find themselves in over their heads when the monsters arrive.

Goosebumps is a chaotic movie, with its non-stop action and various creatures lurking about seemingly every corner of the screen.  But, it also knows how to reign itself in and focus on the characters.  It has a genuinely funny script, and enough action to keep us involved.  The special effects used to bring the monsters to life (provided by Sony Animation Studios) work well enough, but don't exactly stand out in any way.  I really don't think kids will mind.  The movie does a great job of thrilling kids without actually scaring them, and it always has a sense of fun to itself.  And adults who used to read the books as kids can enjoy the various references and cameos to the different stories and monsters.  This is probably the best movie we could have hoped to be made from this particular franchise, and is probably more clever than you'd expect.  There are some fun nods and spoofs of horror cliches to look for.

This is one of those movies you don't exactly walk in with big expectations, but you wind up enjoying yourself more than you thought.  Should it spawn a franchise (and I think that is the intent), hopefully the filmmakers can keep the sense of silly fun that this film has in spades.

See the movie times in your area or buy the DVD at Amazon.com!

0 comments

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home

09/01/2005 - 10/01/2005
10/01/2005 - 11/01/2005
11/01/2005 - 12/01/2005
12/01/2005 - 01/01/2006
01/01/2006 - 02/01/2006
02/01/2006 - 03/01/2006
03/01/2006 - 04/01/2006
04/01/2006 - 05/01/2006
05/01/2006 - 06/01/2006
06/01/2006 - 07/01/2006
07/01/2006 - 08/01/2006
08/01/2006 - 09/01/2006
09/01/2006 - 10/01/2006
10/01/2006 - 11/01/2006
11/01/2006 - 12/01/2006
12/01/2006 - 01/01/2007
01/01/2007 - 02/01/2007
02/01/2007 - 03/01/2007
03/01/2007 - 04/01/2007
04/01/2007 - 05/01/2007
05/01/2007 - 06/01/2007
06/01/2007 - 07/01/2007
07/01/2007 - 08/01/2007
08/01/2007 - 09/01/2007
09/01/2007 - 10/01/2007
10/01/2007 - 11/01/2007
11/01/2007 - 12/01/2007
12/01/2007 - 01/01/2008
01/01/2008 - 02/01/2008
02/01/2008 - 03/01/2008
03/01/2008 - 04/01/2008
04/01/2008 - 05/01/2008
05/01/2008 - 06/01/2008
06/01/2008 - 07/01/2008
07/01/2008 - 08/01/2008
08/01/2008 - 09/01/2008
09/01/2008 - 10/01/2008
10/01/2008 - 11/01/2008
11/01/2008 - 12/01/2008
12/01/2008 - 01/01/2009
01/01/2009 - 02/01/2009
02/01/2009 - 03/01/2009
03/01/2009 - 04/01/2009
04/01/2009 - 05/01/2009
05/01/2009 - 06/01/2009
06/01/2009 - 07/01/2009
07/01/2009 - 08/01/2009
08/01/2009 - 09/01/2009
09/01/2009 - 10/01/2009
10/01/2009 - 11/01/2009
11/01/2009 - 12/01/2009
12/01/2009 - 01/01/2010
01/01/2010 - 02/01/2010
02/01/2010 - 03/01/2010
03/01/2010 - 04/01/2010
04/01/2010 - 05/01/2010
05/01/2010 - 06/01/2010
06/01/2010 - 07/01/2010
07/01/2010 - 08/01/2010
08/01/2010 - 09/01/2010
09/01/2010 - 10/01/2010
10/01/2010 - 11/01/2010
11/01/2010 - 12/01/2010
12/01/2010 - 01/01/2011
01/01/2011 - 02/01/2011
02/01/2011 - 03/01/2011
03/01/2011 - 04/01/2011
04/01/2011 - 05/01/2011
05/01/2011 - 06/01/2011
06/01/2011 - 07/01/2011
07/01/2011 - 08/01/2011
08/01/2011 - 09/01/2011
09/01/2011 - 10/01/2011
10/01/2011 - 11/01/2011
11/01/2011 - 12/01/2011
12/01/2011 - 01/01/2012
01/01/2012 - 02/01/2012
02/01/2012 - 03/01/2012
03/01/2012 - 04/01/2012
04/01/2012 - 05/01/2012
05/01/2012 - 06/01/2012
06/01/2012 - 07/01/2012
07/01/2012 - 08/01/2012
08/01/2012 - 09/01/2012
09/01/2012 - 10/01/2012
10/01/2012 - 11/01/2012
11/01/2012 - 12/01/2012
12/01/2012 - 01/01/2013
01/01/2013 - 02/01/2013
02/01/2013 - 03/01/2013
03/01/2013 - 04/01/2013
04/01/2013 - 05/01/2013
05/01/2013 - 06/01/2013
06/01/2013 - 07/01/2013
07/01/2013 - 08/01/2013
08/01/2013 - 09/01/2013
09/01/2013 - 10/01/2013
10/01/2013 - 11/01/2013
11/01/2013 - 12/01/2013
12/01/2013 - 01/01/2014
01/01/2014 - 02/01/2014
02/01/2014 - 03/01/2014
03/01/2014 - 04/01/2014
04/01/2014 - 05/01/2014
05/01/2014 - 06/01/2014
06/01/2014 - 07/01/2014
07/01/2014 - 08/01/2014
08/01/2014 - 09/01/2014
09/01/2014 - 10/01/2014
10/01/2014 - 11/01/2014
11/01/2014 - 12/01/2014
12/01/2014 - 01/01/2015
01/01/2015 - 02/01/2015
02/01/2015 - 03/01/2015
03/01/2015 - 04/01/2015
04/01/2015 - 05/01/2015
05/01/2015 - 06/01/2015
06/01/2015 - 07/01/2015
07/01/2015 - 08/01/2015
08/01/2015 - 09/01/2015
09/01/2015 - 10/01/2015
10/01/2015 - 11/01/2015
11/01/2015 - 12/01/2015
12/01/2015 - 01/01/2016
01/01/2016 - 02/01/2016
02/01/2016 - 03/01/2016
03/01/2016 - 04/01/2016
04/01/2016 - 05/01/2016
05/01/2016 - 06/01/2016
06/01/2016 - 07/01/2016
07/01/2016 - 08/01/2016
08/01/2016 - 09/01/2016
09/01/2016 - 10/01/2016
10/01/2016 - 11/01/2016
11/01/2016 - 12/01/2016
12/01/2016 - 01/01/2017
01/01/2017 - 02/01/2017
02/01/2017 - 03/01/2017
03/01/2017 - 04/01/2017
04/01/2017 - 05/01/2017
05/01/2017 - 06/01/2017
06/01/2017 - 07/01/2017
07/01/2017 - 08/01/2017
08/01/2017 - 09/01/2017
09/01/2017 - 10/01/2017
10/01/2017 - 11/01/2017
11/01/2017 - 12/01/2017
12/01/2017 - 01/01/2018
01/01/2018 - 02/01/2018
02/01/2018 - 03/01/2018
03/01/2018 - 04/01/2018
04/01/2018 - 05/01/2018
05/01/2018 - 06/01/2018
06/01/2018 - 07/01/2018
07/01/2018 - 08/01/2018
08/01/2018 - 09/01/2018
09/01/2018 - 10/01/2018
10/01/2018 - 11/01/2018
11/01/2018 - 12/01/2018
12/01/2018 - 01/01/2019
01/01/2019 - 02/01/2019
02/01/2019 - 03/01/2019
03/01/2019 - 04/01/2019
04/01/2019 - 05/01/2019
05/01/2019 - 06/01/2019
06/01/2019 - 07/01/2019
07/01/2019 - 08/01/2019
08/01/2019 - 09/01/2019
09/01/2019 - 10/01/2019
10/01/2019 - 11/01/2019
11/01/2019 - 12/01/2019
12/01/2019 - 01/01/2020
01/01/2020 - 02/01/2020
02/01/2020 - 03/01/2020
03/01/2020 - 04/01/2020
04/01/2020 - 05/01/2020
05/01/2020 - 06/01/2020
06/01/2020 - 07/01/2020
07/01/2020 - 08/01/2020
08/01/2020 - 09/01/2020
09/01/2020 - 10/01/2020
10/01/2020 - 11/01/2020
11/01/2020 - 12/01/2020
12/01/2020 - 01/01/2021
02/01/2021 - 03/01/2021
03/01/2021 - 04/01/2021
04/01/2021 - 05/01/2021
05/01/2021 - 06/01/2021
06/01/2021 - 07/01/2021
07/01/2021 - 08/01/2021
08/01/2021 - 09/01/2021
09/01/2021 - 10/01/2021
10/01/2021 - 11/01/2021
11/01/2021 - 12/01/2021
12/01/2021 - 01/01/2022
01/01/2022 - 02/01/2022
02/01/2022 - 03/01/2022
03/01/2022 - 04/01/2022
04/01/2022 - 05/01/2022
05/01/2022 - 06/01/2022
06/01/2022 - 07/01/2022
07/01/2022 - 08/01/2022
08/01/2022 - 09/01/2022
09/01/2022 - 10/01/2022
10/01/2022 - 11/01/2022
11/01/2022 - 12/01/2022
12/01/2022 - 01/01/2023
01/01/2023 - 02/01/2023
02/01/2023 - 03/01/2023
03/01/2023 - 04/01/2023
04/01/2023 - 05/01/2023
05/01/2023 - 06/01/2023

Powered by Blogger