Goosebumps – Film Review by Fran Winston

Directed by: Rob Letterman

Starring: Jack Black, Dylan Minnette, Odeya Rush, Amy Ryan, Ryan Lee, Halston Sage, Jillian Bell

In cinemas February 5th

Based on the much loved book series by R.L. Styne this takes a rather novel approach to its source material. Instead of cherry picking through the numerous characters within their pages and creating a movie just about them here Styne himself has a central role – or at least a version of him. Portrayed by Black he lives a mysterious existence with his daughter Hannah (Rush). When they get a new neighbour in the form of Zach Cooper (Minette) Hannah is immediately taken with him. Despite Styne warning him off the pair start to spend a lot of time together. Unfortunately letting Zach into their lives is about to expose Stynes biggest secret – his characters are real and can escape from their books if his original manuscripts aren’t kept padlocked. When a series of misunderstandings leads to all his creepy ghouls running around in the real world the trio, alongside Zach’s new friend Champ (Lee), must try and capture them back into the pages they burst from before they wreak total havoc.

I’ll be the first to admit that I am not a fan of Jack Black but here his frenetic energy is put to good use as the pace never lets up. If possible he seems to have more energy than his three young co-stars combined. However this isn’t so much about the cast as the motley crew of monster and ghouls that are released into the real world. With hundreds of them descending on the town it can be hard to keep track and some of them are more engaging than others. However it is no mean feat bringing that many creatures to life so the filmmakers are to be commended for their ambition.

This is a romp in every sense of the word. It’s silly and fun and engaging and at times some people will even find it a little bit frightening (the kids at the screening I attended veered between claiming not to have been scared by the monsters to cowering at the thoughts of them). The script is pretty formulaic and at times it is more like a made for TV Halloween movie than a big screen monster fest but although it is a bit haphazard in places it is always entertaining. Even though I’m not the target audience I left with a smile on my face and there are not one but two twists at the end that should satisfy most viewers.

A lovely homage to a much loved series of books this is the kind of movie that a grown up could go to without having to borrow a friends children, but if you can get a group of little ones to attend with you then you’ll have far more fun.