This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

This movie is a great showing for both adults and kids. Its got scary, its got comedy, its got suspense. Everything you need in a family movie!!!

Overall: This movie is very boring and I laughed at maybe two jokes. This is a comedy. Two funny jokes in a comedy is abysmal. Some will enjoy this movie and its humour but I absolutely despised it.Good: 1. The idea is very interesting and unique and could have made a great movie. It didn't, but it could have.2. Slappy was an excellent choice for a villain3. Jack Black gave a decent performance4. Two jokes made me smile5. The CGI is decentBad:1. This movie is labelled as Comedy/Horror. The film delivers in neither. 2. The cinematography was pretty bad. I do not need 40 different angles on an SUV driving down a road.3. The characters were boring.4. Other than Jack Black, the actor didn't do it much better.5. Odeya Rush's acting was abysmal and she clearly just wanted a paycheck.6. The twist, while surprising, was stupid and I couldn't care any less. I actually checked how long was left because I just didn't care.3/10

This is basically a monsters movie with the combination of a lot of the "Goosebumps" monsters coming to life. For the most part I was entertained and if I saw this as a kid in elementary I would have loved it. Mainly because the "Goosebumps" books was really popular when I was in elementary. And a movie that combines a lot of the monsters would have been awesome. I can however still see kids having a fun time sitting through this one. Because it isn't full of trashy and overly corny dialogues that even kids would cringe at. Instead the humor for the most part works for a family film. What would have been great is if they delved more into the monsters background and how it effects the lead characters. Maybe such as if they have to go through a haunted house or had one of the characters put on The Haunted Mask which effected the group. Instead of just running around and hiding from the the "Goosebumps" monsters. I still think this is a good family flick that had potential to be really good. At least the humor for the most part hits it's mark.7/10

Even though I read my share of Goosebumps books as a kid, I still didn't run out to see Goosebumps. I don't remember the specific characters except the most famous ones (e.g. Slappy the dummy). The other reason is because even though I like Jack Black, his really good movies are few and far between. I checked this out on-demand and I'm honestly happy I did. This movie ended up being a lot better than I thought it would be. It knows how to celebrate the spirit of R.L. Stine's work, there's some surprisingly solid acting from the cast and they put some work into the relationships between the characters that would normally make my eyes roll.*Minor Spoilers Ahead* It's a beautiful day as Zach (Dylan Minnette) and his mom Gale (Amy Ryan) move into their new house in Madison, Delaware. They've decided to try and get a fresh start after a tragedy strikes their family and moving from New York City to a small town seems like just the ticket. Zach is less than thrilled about it and reluctantly carries in boxes from the truck. He's trying to wrap his head around the transition and his kooky Aunt Lorraine (Jillain Bell) when he unexpectedly makes contact with his neighbour Hannah (Odeya Rush). She seems to get him immediately but before their conversation gets too far, her dad Stine (Jack Black) yells at her to get back in the house.Movies geared towards families often lack the bite to appeal to adults. This isn't news and if you're looking for some dark horror here, my first question is why? Knowing the source material is the key (as is watching any of the material in the marketing). I think the movie hit the right counterbalance between soft-balling it in and pushing the envelope too far. There are some monsters here that would be pretty scary for the younger kids but as an adult, there's nothing frightening here. It's about right for the audience it's intended for, they wring some laughs out of what's supposed to be some of the scarier scenes. The monsters and villains from the Goosebumps novels are pictured on the screen in imaginative ways that are fun to watch, even when they're trying to stab, eat or maim our heroes.The concept of Stine's books coming to life might seem lame but it reminded me of classic movies that had a lot of imagination. They don't give the audience a concrete explanations on why is this is possible? How could this happen? (it made me think of BIG with Tom Hanks, he grew up all of a sudden because... magic?). But it grew on me as the movie went on. The creative team introduces the concept and then they largely play by their own rules. You never get a chance to ask too many questions because the movie does move along at a decent clip when stuff starts falling apart in Madison, Delaware.Another area this movie could have fumbled the ball is dealing with the characters. You've got a lot of your cliché plot-lines for a coming-of-age tale: the strained relationship between the parent and their kid, the teenage romance where the new kid in town falls in love with the shut-in etc. But this movie was refreshing in how they decided to deal with those well-worn stories. Instead of the typical "you don't get me" stuff, Gale and Zach still have a loving relationship, even though it has it's problems. They joke and deal with their difficulties together and I appreciated that. Another example is how the relationship between R.L. Stine and Slappy is explained. We grow to learn that Slappy is just a shadowy reflection of Stine (authors draw from what they know) and he represents Stine's inability to connect with people and how that's frustrated him even to this day. Not every subplot avoids pitfalls, Zach and Hannah's budding romance has been done over and over again in other movies. But the movie does a good job on not concentrating on it too long and they keep it moving by adding a few jokes or throwing a new twist in to avoid stagnation.I was also impressed by the cast in Goosebumps. You would think Jack Black would mug his way through this material but he's more nuanced and funny in this than the marketing lets on. He carries certain scenes in this movie easily and it's easy to forget how good he is if he's cast in the right role. Dylan Minnette and Odeya Rush were decent as Zach and Hannah. The fact that they were teenage leads falling in love would normally be enough to lose my interest but they worked well together and apart. I thought Ryan Lee was funny but he was really over-doing it in certain bits. Jillian Bell was also solid in her small role, I'm liking her more and more. Amy Ryan also hit the right notes for her character to be effective.Lastly and maybe most importantly, the movie is pretty funny when it wants to be. The script seems to know when it's okay to wink at the audience. It doesn't hurt that you have guys like Jack Black delivering the dialogue but with all the rapid-fire jokes being fired at you, the hit-miss ratio was notably higher than I expected (minus some pretty awful puns by Slappy).Goosebumps could have been really awful. It could have been just an attempt to boost the sales of the books and the studio could have just done the bare-minimum to turn a profit. It wasn't though and I can see why it ended up being a minor hit. They put their own spin on some well-travelled concepts and they made a good decision to couple it with some quickly paced humour and some appropriate to the source material horror. Goosebumps turned out to be some decent entertainment after all.