Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween review

GOOSEBUMPS 2: HAUNTED HALLOWEEN:

THE MONSTERS RETURN MINUS MOST OF THE FUN AND CHARM OF ITS PREDECESSOR!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** out of 4

COLUMBIA PICTURES AND SONY PICTURES ANIMATION

Slappy the Dummy is back with some Halloween scares in Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween

            The monsters of R.L. Stine have returned in the sequel to the 2015 critical and commercial hit, Goosebumps, based on Stine’s hugely-successful children’s books of the same name. I wasn’t a huge fan of the Goosebumps books and TV series growing up, but I read a few of the books and watched an episode from time to time.

            While the stories are undeniably fascinating and kept you up at the night wanting to know what’s going to happen, a lot of the books and episodes had weak payoffs, or they were just too cheesy to me. However, when the first movie was being advertised back in 2015, I thought it looked interesting and fun, plus it’s got my man, Jack Black as the author himself, R.L. Stine.

            A movie where kids find R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps manuscripts and accidentally unleash every monster that he created upon a small town, and they have to team up with Stine to put them back into their books. Not the most original premise seeing how it was very reminiscent of Jumanji, but I found the first movie to be quite entertaining.

            The first film is no masterpiece or anything like that, but it had a lot of imaginative creatures, a slightly rehashed but still unique premise, laughs, and some likable main characters. Goosebumps managed to surpass my expectations and be a hauntingly entertaining ride for both kids and adults.

            I guess I’m not that shocked that a sequel would be made given that its predecessor was a hit with both critics and the box-office. In comes Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween with Jack Black (School of Rock, Kung Fu Panda trilogy, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle) reprising his role as the voice of the psychotic dummy, Slappy and Ari Sandel (West Bank Story, The DUFF, Where We First Met) replacing Rob Letterman as the director.

            Unlike the first film which had me interested by the marketing, the red flags started going off when I saw the trailers for Haunted Halloween. No Jack Black as R.L. Stine, the plot felt like a watered-down version of its predecessor, and that stupid trailer with the Gummi Bear song.

            But I still wanted to give the sequel a chance and I had already seen Black in yet another creepy family film last month that I enjoyed with The House with a Clock in Its Walls. Sadly, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween lived up to my disappointing expectations.

            Sometime after the events of the first movie, the film follows Sonny Quinn (Jeremy Ray Taylor-It) and Sam Carter (Caleel Harris-Think Like a Man 1 and 2, The Loud House, Peanuts (2014)), two kids cleaning junk from an abandoned house as part of an after-school job. They discover a mysterious book that has been locked in a dusty old trunk in the house and the key that unlocks the manuscript.

            Sonny and Sam unlock the book and they unknowingly unleash Slappy the Dummy upon the world once more. Free from his written prison, Slappy plans to literally bring Halloween to life and destroy the town, and only these two kids and Sonny’s older sister, Sarah (Madison Iseman-Tales of Halloween, Still the King, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle) can stop the monsters and put Slappy back into the book.

            The film also stars Wendi McLendon-Covey (Reno 911, Bridesmaids, What Men Want) as Kathy Quinn, Chris Parnell (30 Rock, Archer, Rick and Morty) as Walter, Ken Jeong (Community, The Hangover trilogy, Crazy Rich Asians) as Mr. Chu, Shari Headley (Coming to America, All My Children, The Bold and the Beautiful) as Mrs. Carter, and Black reprising his role as Goosebumps author, R.L. Stine.

            Overall, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween may satisfy younger viewers, but compared to its predecessor, it doesn’t offer much for everyone else. The monsters aren’t as imaginative this time around, the jokes fall flat, and the plot is recycled from the first movie but only slightly changed.

            The characters are throw-away stereotypes from other kids’ movies and just aren’t that interesting. Yes, you could argue the characters in the first movie are stereotypes, but they were still likable, and the actors had good chemistry together.

            Here, it’s a generic sibling rivalry between the younger brother and older sister and the best friend is a quirky black sidekick, yeah, haven’t seen that before. The mother is forgotten about after a while and Jack Black barely has screen-time as R.L. Stine, yes, the character who represents the author behind the books this movie is named after doesn’t impact the plot in any way, in fact he doesn’t even meet the main characters until after they’ve already saved the town.

            Had Black appeared in the movie more often, it could have been a stronger movie, I doubt it would be as good as the first one, but I’d at least be more forgiving towards it. This was a major turn-off point for me that got me furious over a mostly harmless kids’ movie.

            If you got kids who love the books and movies, then they might enjoy Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween. However, it’s one of those movies that you drop your children off to see because there is very little in here to make for legit family entertainment, all you will see is a bad pumpkin that desperately needs to be smashed.