Based on the iconic children’s book series by R. L. Stine, the film adaptation of: ‘Goosebumps’ actually takes a very different approach to its source material. By this time actually having the book series itself play a part in the story, allowing for multiple different monsters from the classic series to appear, alongside Jack Black’s extreme portrayal of: ‘Goosebumps’ original author R. L. Stine of course. This all leading to a somewhat fun yet mostly flawed spine-tingling adventure.

Plot Summary: When an angsty teenager (Zach) moves in next door to the children’s horror author R.L. Stine and his teenage daughter, as he soon finds himself in a strange scenario as the writer’s own monsters are brought to life from their own stories to inflict chaos onto their small town…

Rob Letterman (Shark Tale, Monsters vs. Aliens, Pokémon: Detective Pikachu) directs the film with a fun Halloween-like atmosphere, bringing together many different monsters and creatures ripped straight from their own books, with most of the designs of the monsters being recreated perfectly based on their original designs, despite many of them only getting a few seconds of screen-time, with the haunted dummy: ‘Slappy,’ being the leader of the monsters, and the main focus of the narrative, portrayed as an almost more sinister side of R.L. Stine himself. But as I’ve always been a huge fan of the original: ‘Goosebumps’ show on Cartoon Network, the film’s lack of scares is quite frustrating. As sadly, ‘Goosebumps’ chooses to focus far more on comedy than light-horror to appeal to a new generation of youngsters, which I personally think is a huge mistake.

Most of the cast here give decent performances for a family flick, as Dylan Minnette and Odeya Rush portray a couple of teenagers thrown into this mad adventure fairly. Alongside their friend: ‘Champ’ portrayed by Ryan Lee, who I found extremely grating after a while. All lead by Jack Black’s portrayal of R. L. Stine, as previously mentioned, in addition to his portrayal of the film’s antagonist: ‘Slappy the Living Dummy.’ Who as both characters, gives a performance a little too over-the-top for me.

The cinematography by Javier Aguirresarobe is nothing amazing, coming acorss as mostly bland and generic throughout, but it does it’s job regardless. Danny Elfman also takes on the original score for the film, and again whilst not being anything super memorable, the score is a decent mixture between a spooky horror score alongside a more traditional family film soundtrack. The CG effects, however, are actually one of the better aspects of the film, as while not outstanding they do succeed in bringing the various creatures to life, alongside many of the make-up effects and costumes, which I personally thought added to many of the action scenes throughout the runtime.

Although there are a few funny lines throughout the film, the writing here is one of the film’s biggest issues. As the somewhat original story is dragged down by some awful jokes and very cringey moments, which again falls back on why I would’ve preferred for the film to go for more of a creepy tone over a completely comedic one. The colourful end title sequence of the film is also a great throwback for classic ‘Goosebumps’ fans (despite not adding much to the film as a whole).

Overall, ‘Goosebumps’ was disappointing for me, as I was really expecting something more along the lines of: ‘Coraline’ or ‘Monster House’ on my initial viewing; a creepy family flick with plenty of eerie atmosphere, a few original ideas and plenty of throwbacks to the book series. While I’m not completely against the idea of comedy within the story, the film simply comes down to nothing more than your standard family adventure with an over-reliance on goofy jokes, with the only difference being the slapped on ‘Goosebumps’ name. Of course, I’m also not the film’s target audience, and I could definitely see some families enjoying this spooky adventure for what it is. Final Rating: 4/10.