I’ll just start this review off by saying this movie was better than I thought it would be. It wasn’t great by any means, but I was honestly expecting complete garbage so I guess it wasn’t very hard for the film to exceed my expectations but nevertheless it was a watchable flick.

Goosebumps, as I’m sure most people know, is a popular horror book series for children. The series was a lot of young adults and teenagers’ first introduction to chapter books when they were kids. With massive popularity and mainstream financial success came interest in producing a TV show which was a hit with children, I myself have very fond memories of the show growing up even though now they episodes are pretty difficult to watch.

The movie very openly acknowledges the fact that the people who read Goosebumps growing up are a lot older now and goes for a more comedic and nostalgic approach rather than try and replicate the scary tone of the books. This is a bit of a double edged sword, while it does allow for some funny moments, especially from R.L. Stine (played fantastically by Jack Black in easily the best performance of the film as well as it’s most entertaining aspect) but it also makes Goosebumps feel like yet another film banking off nostalgia to make some extra dough.
The film is quite competently shot and very well acted all around and its stays reasonably funny throughout but the special-effects some how seem even worse than they were in the TV show. Weak CGI permeates the film like a virus and it makes most of the creatures and villains in the film seem cheap and generally unpleasant to look at, and not in a good way.

Overall the film is just ok, it’s much more inoffensive than I was expecting but it doesn’t really stretch beyond referencing its source material hoping to satisfy fans of the books without actually adding anything new to the Goosebumps formula in any significant way.
5/10 I recommend this film to children and the morbidly curious but if you don’t fall into either of these categories than I wouldn’t bother seeing it, especially in theaters. Wait until it’s in a redbox and save your money.