Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Goosebumps Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman January 28, 2016

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words...oh my, the words." Imagine a writer's most vivid, horrifying creations literally coming to life, forming from the very ink on the very pages on which they're described in great, terrible detail. Imagine further, dear readers, that these literary beasts of all form and fear have chosen you as their very special prey. Picture great destruction, see pain and suffering, feel the goosebumps rising from head to toe. From the mind of R.L. Stine and the skillful craftsmen at Sony Pictures comes Goosebumps, a family-friendly Horror/Comedy film that tells the story of the time when they had their time, when the monsters, otherwise tucked away in the musty pages of spine-tingling texts, heretofore avoidable by the simple act of slamming the book shut and securing it with lock and key, are freed of their literary confines and let loose in the real world. Director Rob Letterman's (Monsters vs. Aliens) film blends the real and the fantastical in a movie that recalls Jumanji and Zathura, substituting board games with books but retaining that same imaginative free-flow of ideas and humorous charm that result when man meets amazing.

Zach (Dylan Minnette) and his mother Gale (Amy Ryan) have just moved to Madison, Delaware via New York, though for Zach it may as well be Nowhere, Deleware. Gale's landed a new job as a vice principal at the local high school. Zach meets his new neighbor, Mr. Shivers (Jack Black), and it's not a cordial introduction. Zach is bluntly told to stay on his side of the fence and keep away from Shivers' daughter Hannah (Odeya Rush). One evening, Zach believes he hears a struggle in the neighbors' house. He call the cops, but Shivers blames the ruckus on his surround sound system. Nevertheless, Zach and his new social outcast friend Champ (Ryan Lee) sneak in to investigate. Inside the house, they discover dozens of original Goosebumps manuscripts, the acclaimed childrens' Horror stories. But they're not simply bound pages. When opened, their most terrible creatures -- abominable snowmen, werewolves, aliens, an oversized Praying Mantis, even an evil puppet -- come to life and wreak havoc on Madison. Now, Zach, Champ, and Hannah, along with Shivers, who reveals himself to be none other than Author R.L. Stine himself, must find a way to stay alive and return the creatures from whence they came.

Pro-reading campaigns aimed at young readers often tout the written word's ability to transport the reader somewhere magical, unbelievable, unusual, fun, far-fetched, maybe even frightening, or in other words, to "the world of possible." But they didn't have this in mind! Fortunately, when the words of make-believe meet the real world, the result is only projected on the silver screen or displayed on the living room TV. Fear not, kids, those creepy gnomes or ambling zombies won't really come out of the page. Promise. But they do come out of the page in Goosebumps, and even as the movie is largely a product of prefabricated plot points -- there's really nothing novel here, beyond, of course, all the novels that comes to life...and...terrorize...and...give the audience goosebumps! -- it understands the limits beyond its imagination and allows the monsters to do their work as the heroes struggle to find a way to escape and, more important, figure out a way to get rid of them. The movie yields a very straightforward narrative -- beginning, middle, and twist, as Mr. Stine might say -- that introduces characters but, once that's done, sends a steady stream of Stine's most memorable monsters onto the screen. The film thrives on its over-the-top antics, comedic thrills, and a steady serving of mild chills. What the movie lacks in narrative intrigue it more than makes up for in enthusiasm, which, in a movie like this, really does trump all.

As a general rule in Goosebumps, characters feel overshadowed by the monsters, unlike Jumanji and Zathura, films in which the characters felt more integral to the story, more organically developed, and directly involved. Here, the movie's linear chase elements emphasize action and the creatures while the humans amount to little beyond the subject of the "twist" that's hinted at near the beginning and slowly revealed in the final act. Character definition feels more indirectly related, particularly as characters like Stine evolve throughout the movie, lost under the deluge of visual effects and the mayhem that follows them everywhere they go around town. But it works well enough within the movie's context, needs, and wants. Jack Black, always stellar in his work, is again excellent here in a part that, admittedly, doesn't stretch his acting chops in the least but that does allow him to demonstrate his command of subdued humor and personable antics (watch for a scene in which Black is tied up by tiny gnomes, reminiscent of his run-ins with the Lilliputians in Gulliver's Travels, also directed by Goosebumps' Rob Letterman). Dylan Minnette and Odeya Rush develop fair screen chemistry throughout that's challenged by a key plot point, one in which they both handle well. Ryan Lee is the standout as the comic relief sidekick, Champ.

Goosebumps Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Goosebumps isn't the most robust Blu-ray in the wild, but its largely flat, digitally sourced 1080p transfer gets the job done. The movie sees a fairly even split between well lit sequences and dark nighttime exteriors. The former, unsurprisingly, offers richer visible detailing, showcasing strong overall clarity and, while not razor-sharp definition, clearly visible intricacies on skin, clothes, surfaces in the school, or items in a grocery store that plays central to one adventurous sequence later in the movie. Darker exteriors enjoy adequately deep and even black levels, and while raw detailing isn't drastically, or at all, less, the transfer's overbearing flatness leaves such segments feeling fairly inorganic. Colors dazzle in the daytime. The opening overhead flyovers reveal sparkling greens. That same grocery store interior springs to life with a veritable rainbow of colors, while lower light interiors find enough accentuating colors to please. Light banding and noise occasionally creep into view, but the image is otherwise free of unwanted distractions.

Goosebumps Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Goosebumps features a Dolby Atmos (core Dolby TrueHD 7.1, herein reviewed) soundtrack that performs very well when things go bump in the night, and elsewhere, too. Music enjoys a wide-open stage placement, favoring the fronts but wrapping back around to the rears as well. Instrumental clarity shines and LFE effects are tight and effortlessly supportive. The track features plenty of exciting multidirectional effects and speaker-specific sound placement that helps sonically shape the various bits of uncontrolled chaos that present through the movie's second and third acts. Not all of them truly test the limits of the subwoofer's depth or the 7.1 track's reach, but there's enough detail and definition to go along with the placement to immerse the listener in Madison's night of mayhem. In the school, PA announcements and microphone reverberation are full and filling through to the back, and general external atmospherics, beyond the monster-induced chaos, prove gently immersive. Dialogue delivery is hearty and center focused.

Goosebumps Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Goosebumps contains an alternate open, deleted scenes, several featurettes, early actor test footage, and more. A DVD copy of the film and a voucher for a UV digital copy are included with purchase.

• Cast Blooper Reel (1080p, 3:08).
• Alternate Opening (1080p, 3:28).
• Deleted Scenes (1080p): First Day of School (6:05), Kitchen Argument (0:55), Shivers at the Police Station (2:05), Lorraine Loses Zach (0:44), Flirting in the Car (0:39), Davidson and Abby (0:32), and Alternate Ending (2:03).
• All About Slappy (1080p, 4:44): The puppet character Slappy recalls his own history in Stine's book series, while Stine and the film's cast chime in with their own thoughts. The piece also examines the character's design and construction for the movie.
• Beginner's Guide to Surviving a Goosebumps Creature (1080p, 5:47): Zach and Champ share a few secrets on fighting off some of the baddies that appear in the film.
• Strange Things Are Happening...On-Set (3:30): Dylan Minnette chronicles some of the oddities that occurred on set during the shoot.
• Creaturefied! (1080p, 8:56): Makeup Artists Steve Prouty and Fionagh Cush share some secrets behind their work on the movie and how fans can recreate the visuals at home.
• Cast Screen Test Gallery (1080i): Video clips featuring the cast in early rehearsals. Included are Dylan Minnette and Odeya Rush (2:49), Jack Black, Dylan Minnette and Odeya Rush (1:30), Jack Black and Dylan Minnette 1 (2:24), and Jack Black and Dylan Minnette 2 (0:45).
• Previews (1080p): Additional Sony titles.

Goosebumps Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Goosebumps lives and dies by its enthusiasm for the material, which means that, for the most part, it thrives. Hardly a groundbreaking picture in any way, lacking truly interesting characters, and featuring acceptably ho-hum visual effects, the movie has a lot working against it, but that enthusiasm and honest acceptance of its narrative simplicity helps it climb out of a potentially deep and dark hole. Add in the always entertaining Jack Black and a good surrounding roster and Goosebumps manages to entertain for the duration, which is all one can really ask of a movie of this sort. Sony's Blu-ray release delivers good video, excellent audio, and a bit of flimsy but audience-friendly supplemental content. Recommended.