* i loves to read *: Movie Review: Goosebumps

Title: Goosebumps - The Movie

Synopsis: Upset about moving from a big city to a small town, teenager Zach Cooper (Dylan Minnette) finds a silver lining when he meets the beautiful girl, Hannah (Odeya Rush), living right next door. But every silver lining has a cloud, and Zach's comes when he learns that Hannah has a mysterious dad who is revealed to be R. L. Stine (Jack Black), the author of the bestselling Goosebumps series. It turns out that there is a reason why Stine is so strange... he is a prisoner of his own imagination - the monsters that his books made famous are real, and Stine protects his readers by keeping them locked up in their books. When Zach unintentionally unleashes the monsters from their manuscripts and they begin to terrorize the town, it's suddenly up to Stine, Zach, Hannah, and Zach's friend Champ (Ryan Lee) to get all of them back in the books where they belong.

My Review:

Ever since I was a kid I have always steered clear of scary things. I’m not one for haunted houses at Halloween, or scary movies. (In High School I went on a date to see the Jason/Freddy mashup – I think that was the movie – and almost broke my hand because I jumped so hard, and brought my hand up into the cup holder…that didn’t help my dislike any.) In Jr High I was given two Steven King books for Christmas, and I read those because they were a gift (The Dark Half and It, and the fact that I can tell you the titles, and probably a good portion of the plot means they left quite a lasting impression on my 14 year old brain) but there are parts of me that wish I hadn’t…while there are parts of me who secretly enjoyed them. It’s the same with movies; while I HATE being scared, that kind of fear doesn’t really appeal to me, once everything is said and done I’m actually happy to have had the experience.

I say all that to say this; I never was a huge fan of R.L. Stein’s Goosebumps series as a kid/young teen. They were all the rage in my time, my friends couldn’t wait to get the next book, while I was sitting there reading and rereading Judy Blume. That was okay though, even then I knew it was fine to not like things that other people liked, especially when it came to books. But that means that as the Goosebumps show came out, I had no care to watch it. While my husband made it a yearly tradition in October to watch it on Netflix with the kids, I usually could be found reading a book, taking a bath or doing some other ‘alone time’ thing. That is not because I thought they would be scary (and I don’t like scary things) but because I was never in to it.

So in comes last Friday evening where my husband, kids and I find ourselves with cancelled plans and free time. The Goosebumps Movie has been out a week or two, and the kids and husband want to see it. So I relent and we make it a family date! (an EXPENSIVE family date…seriously, stupid expensive to take the family to see a newer movie!)

What I Loved: It’s already established I was never “in” to the Goosebumps thing, so it shocks and amazes me just how good this movie was. Jack Black was the perfect Stein, and the movie was excellent. While the actors are suppose to be in High School – the movie was very appropriate for my 8, 10, and 11 year old kids. It was funny with a little bit kind of scaryish stuff (but not really..not really at all). This was the perfect outing for us, and I’m so happy to have spent the time and money to go see the movie that the kids continue to talk about, and recite lines from.

Not So Much: Can we just talk about ticket prices again? That ship has sailed? Oh okay. Well, I’m also not a huge fan of 3D…it’s kind of neat for the first 3-5 minutes, but then I forget I’m watching a 3D movie and nothing jumps out any more. Anyone else experience this?

The Verdict: