Went to see Goosebumps, the live action big screen adaptation of all of the 90s era Goosebumps novels (and tv show) by R.L. Stine. Having not read those books (or seen the show – though apparently it’s on Netflix), I had no nostalgia for the property going in. But that’s ok – as I suspected most of the creatures in the movie are generic monsters (werewolf, dummy, evil clown, etc.) so the movie winds up being a decent little monster mash with some obvious injokes that I got or suspected might exit.

Jack Black plays RL Stine the writer. Open up the original manuscripts he wrote and the creatures come to life. So this movie is an excuse to toss in werewolves, evil ventriloquist dummies, abominable snowmen, killer gnomes, aliens, evil clowns, zombies, etc. into one kid-friendly moderately scary movie. It had a bit of a tamer Gremlins or Jumanji or Small Soldiers to it – creatures attack town, can the kids rally and defeat them?

I think kids will love it – the fans of the book series might love it, parents and others outside the target demo might find it passably fun. I did. It’s fine. It runs a little long and gets a little sloggy in the middle but I was surprised at some of the witty dialog and generally speaking the all out monster attack has its fun merits.

On a side note: I did have a moment of nostalgia. One of the production companies credited at the beginning was Scholastic Books. I guess they published the Goosebumps books but I remember then from elementary school quite fondly (Scholastic book drives, for example).

Score: 74