This is a fun, last-minute Halloween movie for the whole family.
Goosebumps 2 was very enjoyable and a fun movie to watch. This movie is obviously geared toward the younger audience, but the whole family would enjoy their time watching this movie together.
The special effects in this movie was definitely the most entertaining part and the movie’s best quality. The inanimate objects kept coming to life in this movie, and the transformation was incredible to watch. For a kid’s movie, the special effects really surprised me!
This movie would definitely be a fun, sorta-scary movie to go take the kids, or anyone that isn’t a fan of horror films, but still wants a little Halloween scare! Along with it’s scary storyline, the plot of this movie also includes a cute side story about the family.
PLOT: Goosebumps 2 is just another Goosebumps story, specifically Haunted Halloween. It’s about a family- a son, Sonny (played by Jeremy Ray Taylor), his friend, Sam (played by Caleel Harris), and an older sister, Sarah (played by Madison Iseman). Sam and Sonny work a “job” where they go clean-up unwanted junk from houses. They get a job to clean up a house that happens to be R.L. Stein’s house.
SLIGHT SPOILER (NOT REALLY): They find a ventriloquist dummy named Slappy and use a spell to accidentally bring him to life. Slappy has the power to bring anything to life that he wants to and has a lot of special powers. He just wants to be part of the family and to be Sonny and Sarah’s brother. But that’s kind of weird right, so after some freaky stuff Slappy pulls in attempts to please Sarah and Sonny, they try to get rid of him.
ACTUAL SPOILER: So, obviously, you can’t get rid of Slappy, so he turns against the family and turns evil instead. He decides to bring all of the Halloween costumes and Halloween toys in a store to life. Thus creating the storyline of the book “Goosebumps: A Haunted Halloween,” a book that R.L. Stein wrote, but didn’t finish. The rest of the movie is about the kids trying to make their own ending to the book and them trying to stop all of the Halloween chaos. SPOILER OVER
ALL-STAR CAST: The three kids: Sonny, Sarah, and Sam were all really cute and did well. But Sony Pictures had to but some big-wig names in the movie to let the older crowd be prompted to see this with the family.
WENDI McLENDON-COVEY as Kathy, the mother: It was almost hard to recognize her without the classic Goldberg mom hair. She had a pretty big role in this movie, being the typical, clueless mom that doesn’t believe her kids when they say there’s a doll that’s alive. She’s funny as always, well as much as the part allowed her to be, but she seems to be the highest-paid cast member, so Goosebumps was definitely looking for a big name.
KEN JEONG as Mr.Chu, the next-door neighbor: Jeong plays the geeky, over-the-top next-door neighbor from the main family. He’s a Halloween fanatic, which causes some problems, but he is ultimately the one who prompts the kids the end the story. He’s funny as always and this role was more than likely specifically written for Jeong.
JACK BLACK as R.L. Stein: Surprisingly, Jack Black is not even credited if you look up the movie on IMDB. I would have thought that the movie would have advertised the presence of Jack Black in the movie more in the previews, considering he is an extremely well known actor for all generations. He played the author of the story, obviously, and had a fairly large role, especially toward the end of the movie. It wasn’t a funny role for him, more on the serious side, but Jack Black still put his own twist on this well-known author.
If you enjoy the Goosebumps book series, you will love this movie. It’s a cute last-minute Halloween film to go watch with the family in the days before of after Halloween night. I was eagerly waiting for “goosebumps” by Travis Scott to play in this seemingly modern-day movie, which never came, but oh well. I enjoyed myself at this movie and I think any movie-goer would as well.
RATING: 68%