Goosebumps - movie review
Goosebumps
Plot: A teenager teams up with the daughter of young adult horror author R. L. Stine after the writer's imaginary demons are set free on the town of Madison, Delaware.
Cast: Jack Black, Dylan Minnette, Odeya Rush
Director: Rob Letterman
Rating: PG
Runtime: 1hr 43 mins
Release Date: Friday 5th February 2016
When things go bump in the night, most remember the fictional
With this being a family orientated movie, I was by no means expecting the greatest performances ever. But some of these actors were just not good at all. The love interest (Rush) for our main protagonist was uninspiring and lacked any true meaning of what she was saying. Sometimes she would seem completely emotionless whilst at others, it was almost as if she was trying to get the words out of her mouth as fast as possible. Ryan Lee was also a disappointment. I quite liked his performance in Super 8 but in this he's stuck in the role of a goofy sidekick. When he first came on screen, I had hopes for his character because he seemed stupid yet endearing. However, when his jokes were constantly overplayed it made for an annoying and tiresome watch. Jack Black's depiction of Goosebumps' author R. L. Stine, was a mixed bag for me. His performance was subdued and didn't include any Jack Black 'isms'. By that I mean grabbing a rock guitar and waving his hands and arms ridiculously. This can often work with School Of Rock being a prime example but sometimes fails spectacularly, case and point, Gulliver's Travels. So with a simple and basic performance from Black, it allowed for us to not see Jack Black but instead a fully fledged character. However, this did not last for long as Black included the most bizarre accent for Stine which seemed to be a cross between a cartoonish villain and South African. But the one surprise was our main protagonist of the film played by Minnette. After some turns in supporting roles, it was nice to see him take a main role and have fun with it. He carries the film and is the only character that I seemed to have any investment with. He tries his best with what he's given and who knows, maybe this will be a big stepping stone for him to do more work.
Being a non experienced Goosebumps reader, I wasn't sure what to expect from the story. I had no idea if this particular film was based upon a significant book of Stine's or he helped to create one specifically for this film. So, imagine my surprise when they seem to treat some of the audience with care knowing that most may not have read a single Goosebumps book. The overall concept was ingeniously planned as they set up that the Goosebumps books exist in this universe as well as the author. However, in this instance, the stories can come to life. That entire idea all went to pot though when writer Darren Lemke was hired after his 'incredible' work on films such as Shrek Forever After and Turbo. God help us all. Almost every bit of dialogue spoken is either incredulously cringe-worthy or so clichéd that you can predict what each character will say before that say it. I will congratulate Lemke in one aspect of his storytelling. Goosebumps are well known for including a twist, and without giving away any spoilers, the turn in the tale was impressive and something that surprised me. The film also seems to be a blend of other movies that were much more successful. The biggest comparison that I can use is Jumanji. Both have a well known Hollywood actor leading the way and both involve monsters and other such things coming to life. But what makes Jumanji a more superior movie was that it never substituted a compelling story for juvenile humour. That, and Jack Black is by no means a fair comparison to the late great Robin Williams. I'm also pretty sure that this whole situation of the books coming to life was never fully explained. I wasn't expecting a detailed back story but a small explanation would have been nice. The monsters were also squandered. Apart from Slappy, the ventriloquist dummy, we had no connection to a monster. Whether it be the Abominable Snowman or a werewolf, their only function seemed to be to chase our main characters around for a little while. They served no greater purpose.
I won't beat around the bush here. The special effects and CGI in this movie suck. It is diabolically awful and horrible to watch. The only two shots with the inclusion of special effects that impressed me was the initial appearance of the Abominable Snowman as he was transferred from the pages of the book, and the final sequence of the movie involving a runaway Ferris Wheel. Apart from that, the CGI was the biggest gripe I have with this film. Of course this is meant to have a degree of magic realism as there will never be a werewolf roaming the aisles of Walmart but the director (Letterman) could have at least tried. But I'll end things on a positive note. The score included seemed to be a mixture of kid's pop with the Psycho theme. This actually did make for a fun soundtrack with it creating an eerie atmosphere yet still continuing its kid friendly nature.
As much as it may seem that I despise this movie, I really don't. The good things in this film were really good, great in some respects. But the negatives outweighed the positives making for a viewing that I just didn't care about. I'm sure some kids may have a blast with this and parents may too. For me however, the shoddily written, average acting, poor CGI and effective score culminated in a confused movie that had no impact upon me.
My Verdict: 4/10
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