Goosebumps Jack Black, Odeya Rush, Dylan Minnette. Directed by Rob Letterman. Rated PG. Opens Friday.
Although the books might have thrilled readers, Goosebumps the movie is less intent on being scary and more focused on fast, loud action, special effects, dorky humor and a tentative teen romance. Director Rob Letterman previously made the critically slammed flop Gulliver’s Travels—also with Jack Black—and Goosebumps brings that same kind of broad, lowbrow approach to the beloved teen horror series.
Teen Zach Cooper (Dylan Minnette) moves with his single mom (Amy Ryan) from the big city to the small town of Madison, Delaware. Zach doesn’t seem to fit in at school, and the only person he meets is a suit-wearing misfit named Champ (Ryan Lee). Zach does connect with his next door neighbor, Hannah (Odeya Rush), who seems to be kept prisoner in her house by her mysterious father (Black). Stuffed into a pair of glasses and restrained in a specific role, Black gives one of his more likable performances.
Investigating, Zach and Champ discover that Hannah’s father is R.L. Stine, the famous author of the Goosebumps series. Unfortunately, they also discover a series of locked, original manuscripts that, once opened, release real live monsters into the world. It’s all rather graceless, and yet it has a certain kind of good cheer. It harks back to a time when monsters were the main draw of scary movies, and young viewers could test themselves by sitting through the movies, all the while secretly loving them. Monster fans of today will have fun identifying their favorites as they flit by in cameos, although the movie is too awkward and overwhelming in general to feel old-fashioned.
