Susan Granger’s review of “Goosebumps” (Columbia Pictures/Sony Animation)
R.L. Stine has sold more than 400 million books worldwide, so it’s a pleasure to report that his young adult horror fiction series has been somewhat successfully adapted for the big screen.
Teenage Zach Cooper (Dylan Minnette) is not exactly happy about having to relocate from New York to the small town of Madison, Delaware, where his recently widowed mom (Amy Ryan) takes a job as high school vice-principal.
But Zach’s angst is soon relieved when he meets the girl-next-door, Hannah (Odeya Rush), who is home-schooled. Her overprotective dad – who warns him to stay away – turns out to be reclusive R.L. Stine (Jack Black), an author held prisoner by his own imagination.
It seems that the monsters he’s created in his mysteries are real, which is why he zealously keeps them locked up. And when Zack unintentionally releases them, they terrorize the town. So it’s up to Zack, his nerdy pal Champ (Ryan Lee), Hannah and Stine to get them back into the books where they belong.
Children who have enjoyed Stine’s books will recognize creatures like Abominable Snowman of Pasadena, Praying Mantis, Werewolf of Fever Swamp, The Blob, Vampire Poodle, Slappy the evil ventriloquist’s dummy (voiced by Black), and a demonic gang of garden gnomes.
Scripted by Darren Lemke from a story by Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski and directed by Rob Letterman, who collaborated with Black on “Gulliver’s Travels,” it combines many stories into a rather jumbled, often frantic stew.
While Jack Black doesn’t resemble Robert Lawrence Stine, he captures the essence of the prolific writer who has churned out 204 YA novels going back to 1992 – while Jillian Bell gets laughs as Zach’s wacky Aunt Lorraine. Amy Ryan, Timothy Stone and Ken Marino appear all too briefly.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Goosebumps” is a silly, spooky, skewed 6. Following in the footsteps of “Hotel Transylvania 2,” it’s a Halloween treat, family-friendly fare.
