Movies: Goosebumps
Introduction
Goosebumps books, if that name doesn't ring a bell to you then you are probably from an earlier generation compared to me which is the 1980s generation. It is actually a bunch of stories written by R.L Stine starting in the 1992s onwards. There are actually nearly 150 books written from this author up to date and this is some impressive stuff. However, I will put it out there clearly that i have not read even ONE of his books, although i do vaguely remember seeing some of his books before on the shelves. Yep.. sorry that i prefer to see everything in film and seldom like to read.... that goes the same for stories like LOTR, Hunger Games, Divergent, Maze Runner etc. In fact some of this movies I actually have the book but currently I have not even managed to go past the first book of Maze runner even though I seen the movie already.
Here are some of the cover of the books to share. Apparently some are already out of print but who knows what the movie can do for this book series
But anyway, back to this movie, and the first thing of interest in this movie is....... JACK BLACK?!?!?! Yep, with Jack Black, this will.. i mean can't be a serious movie. And you will see this very clearly in the movie. Jack Black cannot, and i repeat again, CANNOT be a fierce guy. His face just can't pass it off anymore. But lets go down to the movie content now!
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| Make no mistake, Jack Black is in this movie that is suppose to give you goosebumps |
Storyline 3.5/5
Rest assured that this is a completely new storyline and not something that was written in a book (or perhaps there is a title for this special episode of goosebumps) and in this movie, you will see many many goosebumps characters which should thrill the fans of the books itself. The storyline itself does not take itself TOO seriously (again because Jack Black is here) and you will feel that this is a pretty light hearted movie in general.
Thanks to there being many goosebump characters, as a whole you will still have things to look forward to during the entire movie and it stays fresh enough, and there is a twist at some part of the movie to at least make a that little bit more entertaining then just a generic movie.
Hence a 3.5 score is what this movie deserves, nothing higher as it still follows a general movie plot, but at least it did make a tiny little twist and was somewhat entertaining while it lasted.
Character 3.5/5
There are a a lot of characters, humans and especially monsters alike. Unfortunately, much of the monster's background are not utilized to the fullest and basically in the end, all the monsters are about identical and just different forms of the bad guy.
The other human characters are fun and distinct in their own way and there is some effort of character development during the movie. But honestly, nothing totally strikes me as something on top of its class and it is just leaning completely on the huge selection of goosebump monsters to intrigue the crowd which is a waste when there is so little emphasis or effort to distinct or introduce them better.
Cinematography 3/5
Cinematography is average, nothing too epic or exciting and just some nice sunrise shots but that is about it. Not an action show of course but the lack of any good cinematography does make the movie a bit more boring.
Music 3/5
Identical to Cinematography, the music is there, but nothing of particularly unique impact to the audience experience but it does not distract from the experience either.
Spectacle 3/5
Well, I will try to look from the angle of it being a comedic movie with a unique storyline. For the comedy aspect it is passable and nothing that would cause you to laugh till your hips hurt. For the storyline, if you like goosebumps then you may OR may not have an advantage because you will be happy to see your goosebump characters, but there is really nothing that the movie does to make the presence of the monsters more felt by the audience. If you do not even read this movie, then basically you will just understand all the various monsters to just be one or the other form of a monster and it stops there. Being unable to stand out and stand tall from the other movies does cause the audience to just feel that this is one other generic movie.
Overall
Story: 3.5 (An ok story with a twist mid way to keep things interesting, but its nothing top class)
Character: 3.5 (Many characters and monsters, characters are fairly fun, monsters are quite many, but really, a lot of wasted potential and this movie could have done much better)
Cinematography: 3 (Ordinary movie shots, nothing too amazing)
Music: 3 (Ordinary music score, nothing too amazing, but didn't detract from the experience)
Spectacle: 3 (Was not able to stand out in terms of comedic value, neither was it able to stand out in storyline DESPITE having so many monsters to work with. Its really unfortunate)
Overall: 3.2 (As can be seen from the score and it blends in well with my overall feel of the movie, its an okay movie if you are looking for something to do and to spend time of. If you have read the books and just want to see your favorite monsters in the flesh, this is where you finally have a chance. But that being said, if you are not a fan, treat this as your usual thriller and don't over expect and you should be able to somewhat enjoy the movie itself, but don't fret if you miss this movie as you did not miss anything too much in reality.)
