Goosebumps is one of those films that probably falls under the category of “nostalgic cash-in”. I’ve already talked about how the new Ghostbusters is kind of this.

The thing about Goosebumps is it is based on a book series that was targeted for very young audiences in the nineties, and it had its own TV series back then. This is one of those book series that parents hated because they thought it was…well, you know how this works. Parents see some kind of horror or supernatural activity in a kid’s book series, and they want to cry out “occult”!

In the case of Goosebumps, whoever made this movie decided that they didn’t just want to adapt one story from the book series, or a few. No, they decided to do all of them. You heard me right, all of them. At least the title is accurate as it is all-encompassing.

The film opens with a boy named Zach and his mother moving into a new neighborhood in Delaware. He then meets a nice girl named Hannah, as well as her father. The father is played by Jack Black, and it could have been anyone, however, Black gives his usual 100 percent.

As it turns out, Jack Black is playing author R.L. Stine, who is the author of the real Goosebumps books. Zach believes that Hannah’s father is possibly abusing her, and breaks into Stine’s house with his friend, Champ. There, they discover that R.L. Stine keeps locked up versions of his stories on his shelf. Out of curiosity, they open one, only to find out that the books contain the horrors R.L. Stine’s series.

For example, the first book they open has “The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena”, and the three of them attempt to track it down with the book it came out of. The three meet up with R.L. Stine, who is able to suck in the snowman (boy that sounds bad) into his manuscript.

Apparently, R.L. Stine is essentially an author who can make his imaginations come to live, and he keeps them locked up so they won’t hurt anyone. I’m assuming that he does this initially, and then is able to retype them and sell millions of copies. Oddly enough, that is the only thing that I am questioning in this odd scenario, as I am used to films with incredulous premises.

Something happens in the film that is just terrible. After the snowman is freed, another one of the manuscripts unlocks itself. Seriously, it just kind of happens. They set up for the snowman very well, but the rest of the conflict for the film just shows up for the sake of the film’s extended run-time.

The second monster who is freed is The Dummy, one of Goosebumps‘ biggest mascots. The Dummy, who is also played very well by Jack Black, unlocks all of the other books and burns them, which frees all of the monsters inside. I will have to say that even though I enjoyed the premise of this film, even though it could have had a better set up, this film doesn’t work due to its resemblance to Jumanji, and it is trying too hard to work. Spoilers ahead after the jump.

I’ll go ahead and spoil this film, as it really is nothing more than a series of supernatural attacks after another. The film does a good job at incorporating the most famous monsters, and it is interesting to watch them interact. It’s like when a kid plays with his action figures of all types and franchises and makes one big mega-story out of it.

Some of the menaces are great, like the lawn gnomes that have this jerky-like movements that are worth seeing. There also a gigantic praying mantis that is also some good effects.

The film tries for an interesting plot twist as it is revealed that Hannah is one of the creations, but there is a problem with this. First of all, why would R.L. Stine create a teenage girl? I can think of one reason, and I don’t want to go there.

The ending is odd, which involves Stine writing a manuscript where all the monsters go away. Then Zach types it out on this old typewriter, so is Stine magic or is the typewriter?

Yeah, this film has a plot of Swiss Cheese, and it is just fun entertainment that can be enjoyed. Check it out if you’re curious.