'Goosebumps' Movie Review

— -- Rated: PG

Starring Jack Black

Three out of five stars

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Hollywood’s been trying for years to make a movie out of R.L. Stine’s tremendously popular "Goosebumps" books. They’ve finally done it, and it took a silly and likable performance by Jack Black to help make it a moderately successful adaptation.

Black plays a character named R.L. Stine, who’s loosely -- VERY loosely -- based on the author. For starters, the real R.L. Stine is a very likable guy. The movie’s R.L. Stine is a recluse and a bit of a tyrant. He lives with his teenage daughter, Hannah (Odeya Rush), and doesn’t want her anywhere near their new neighbor, Zach (Dylan Minnette. Zach just moved to town from New York City with his mom, who accepted a job as the vice principal of the local high school, where Stine’s a teacher.

Hannah and Zach immediately take a liking to each other, but Stine is furious with his daughter for fraternizing with the young man -- and, as we soon find out, for good reason. Zach, meanwhile, has no idea Hannah’s mean father is Stine, and fears for Hannah’s safety when he hears his cranky neighbor yelling at her. When Zach and his friend Champ break into the house to investigate, they discover a library of locked, leather-bound manuscripts. Zach opens a book and the Abominable Snowman pops out.

You see, Stine has been keeping those books locked because long ago, he discovered he could write characters that would come to life. It was useful when he would write monsters to scare off the kids who would pick on him. Eventually, it became a problem, and he had to keep all of his manuscripts locked to prevent the monsters from overrunning every town he moved to. Leading the monsters is Stine’s old childhood buddy, a ventriloquist’s dummy named Slappy. And Slappy is one angry dummy -- Stine has kept him locked in the pages of a book for years. Now it’s time for Slappy’s revenge.

Fans of the "Goosebumps" series will enjoy seeing virtually every single monster the real R.L. Stine has written come to life. Black’s performance is funny enough to keep the adults superficially interested but if you’re over age 12, this movie and plot is too silly to really buy into, although it’s a solid choice for the kids.