Goosebumps
are guaranteed for Goosebumps
audiences with its scary (and fantastically displayed) computer-animated
live-action monsters, eerie music (Danny Elfman), and Jack Black as a
short-tempered ogre. Director Rob
Letterman and the writers (Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski, Darren Lemke)
have cleverly brought into the movie version as many of the numerous monsters
created by R. L. Stine as they reasonably could, and it is thrilling and
ominous to see so many of them on the attack (e.g., Abominable Snowman, Slappy
the Dummy, Giant Preying Mantis, Invisible Boy, Evil Swamp Werewolf, Zombies,
Lawn Gnomes, Robots, Haunted Mask, and Bees, to name some). This is a new story incorporating
Stine’s characters, rather than being based on a particular book. Stine said in an interview that it has
always been important to him that his monsters be both scary and funny at the
same time (http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/446963-interview-author-r-l-stine-talks-the-goosebumps-movie#/slide/1).
The
initial part of the story centers on high schooler Zach Cooper (Minnette)
moving into Madison, Delaware, with his mother (Ryan), the new vice principal
of Madison High. He notices odd
goings on next door, then is startled by Hannah (Rush) when he is at the trash
bin. She is the daughter of R. L.
Stine, the famous writer of the Goosebumps
series, who has already leaned out of his second-story window and threatened
Zach to stay away from her. But
she is plucky and rebellious and takes Zach on a brilliant walk after dark. He is smitten with her.
Later,
he hears Stine and Hannah arguing, and immediately worries about her
safety. He uses a ruse to get Mr.
Stine out of the house, and recruits his nerdy new friend from high school,
Champ (Lee), to break into Hannah’s house and rescue her. This begins a series of frightening
events that will take up the rest of the night when Champ, an avid reader of
Stine’s books, and Zach manage to unleash monsters by opening a locked cabinet
that contains all the books.
Jack
Black is at his best in realizing the Stine character, from intimidating and
ogre-like, to distressed, to lonely and desperate, to outlandishly
comedic. He said he viewed the
fictional Stine as “a respected writer with a dark side” and played him
accordingly. Minette as Zach is a
good counterpart to Stine in being young but sensible and creative in coming up
with plans. Offering nervous
hysteria and ultimately disastrous actions that invariably produce groans and
chuckles, Lee’s Champ (dubbed “Chump”) gives us some comic relief from the
tension.
The
music by Danny Elfman and production design by Sean Haworth add dimension to
the story by being alternately frightening and comedic, depending on what is
going on in the script. The colors
add richness and depth, all of which adds up to a visually beautiful film.
A nifty PG-rated comedy/horror movie that
should appeal to most ages, except perhaps for sensitive younger children.
Grade: A
By Donna R. Copeland
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