Goosebumps

Certificate – PG

Directed by – Rob Letterman

Starring – Jack Black; Dylan Minnette; Odeya Rush; Amy Rush; Ryan Lee.

Running Time – 103 Minutes (1 hour 43 minutes)

 ★★★½

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As a kid of the 90s, like myself, I’m sure you remember the TV series based on R.L Stine’s child horror books and got completely freaked out by them. I only saw a few episodes and got so scared I didn’t watch it anymore, fast forward 17 years and Goosebumps has been given a big screen update.

When R.L. Stine (Black) monstrous creations escape from the pages of his magical books, which act as their prison. It’s up to Stine to bring his monsters back into the books where they belong with help from his teenage daughter Hannah (Rush) and his new next door neighbour Zach Cooper (Minnette).

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This film shows that Jack Black doing his shtick is much better suited to these films as he’s clearly having a lot of fun and reminds me of Black in School of Rock and how entertaining he was working with kids and this is highlighted by the chemistry between Stine and Champ (Lee), which was brilliant to watch.

Entertaining and fun is the best way to describe this film and a big reason is because of Black’s performance as both Stine and especially as Slappy the dummy. I wouldn’t be surprised if Mark Hamill’s Joker from the classic Batman: Animated Series was a big influence on Black because you can hear the similarities. 

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However, I did think it lacked the bite compared to the former TV series, but there were some scares for kids (but kids these days don't seem to get scared much like we use to) and even if they’re not scared they will have a great time.

While these teenagers are talented, it did start off as a straight to Nickelodeon movie, but they got better once Black entered and you can see Minnette and Rush having decent careers.

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Verdict

Jack Black is the stand out in this highly entertaining adventure for the whole family