Goosebumps Review

As a child of the nineties who was in elementary school at the dead center of the decade I was completely immersed in R. L. Stine's Goosebumps series. I'd go to bookstores monthly and was constantly checking to see if the latest installment was on the shelves yet. I owned and had read pretty much the entire series at least once, probably more. I was such a fan that 20 years later when a movie trailer for Goosebumps (2015) was released, everyone who put up with my fanaticism back in the day linked the video to me. Goosebumps not only is a really fun adventure movie that showcases many of the classic Goosebumps monsters, the movie's story even felt like a Goosebumps book.

Upset about moving from a big city to a small town, teenage Zach Cooper (Dylan Minnette) finds a silver lining when he meets the beautiful girl, Hannah (Odeya Rush), living right next door. But every silver lining has a cloud, and Zach's appears when he learns that Hannah has a mysterious dad who is revealed to be R. L. Stine (Jack Black), the author of the bestselling Goosebumps series. It turns out that there is a reason why Stine is so strange... he is a prisoner of his own imagination - the monsters that his books made famous are real, and Stine protects his readers by keeping them locked up in their books. When Zach unintentionally unleashes the monsters from their manuscripts, they begin to terrorize the town, it's suddenly up to Stine, Zach, Hannah, and Zach's friend Champ (Ryan Lee) to get all of them back in the books where they belong before they destroy the city.

Jack Black and R. L. Stine

So, after seeing the Goosebumps trailer for the first time, I was psyched. Up until I saw Jack Black and my interest plummeted. When I think of Jack Black, my mind immediately goes to titles like Year One, Gulliver's Travels, and Mars Attacks. But he keeps giving me reasons not to dislike him, which is really annoying. He's good in Kung Fu Panda and Peter Jackson's King Kong. And now I can say he's good in Goosebumps. Black plays a fictional version of the actual author; little of what I know about Stine himself was incorporated into the fictional character. The two don't look remotely similar. But that's fine because Jack Black creates an effectively droll characterization of R. L. Stine, combining a pair of heavy-rimmed black glasses, Orson Wells-type literate tones and a spiteful vanity that makes Stephen King the bane of his existence.

Goosebumps features a huge number of monsters from the book series. I did my very best not to jump up and down in my seat excitedly pointing out ones I recognized. "Oh! It's the Werewolf of Fever Swamp! Yay! It's the Haunted Mask! Oh, it's Mud Monster! YES! They included Lawn Gnomes! The Lord High Executioner! Scarecrows! Mummy of Prince Khor-Ru! Pumpkinhead! Cuckoo Clock of Doom! And Slappy the Ventriloquist Dummy!" I'll bet I could have been really annoying to sit next to. As a fan of the books, this catered to audiences who grew up reading the books; it was hugely nostalgic for me. I was disappointed that a few of my favorites was omitted such as Monster Blood or the Horrorland Horrors, The Beast from the East, or possibly the Barking Ghost. To be fair, there were 62 titles in the original Goosebumps book series and not all of them could be used or have screen time. I'm grateful that the movie didn't beat you over the head with what any given monster was and the title the book came from; that would have become irritating quickly and felt like overt advertisements for a 23 year old book series.

There were three monsters I didn't recognize at all. I had to look them up and it turns out they were taken from titles from some spin-off book series that were published after I had stopped reading them religiously. They were the only ones I couldn't identify. There were some fantastic shots of the monster ensemble that didn't last long enough for me to take it all in and appreciate the detail of. Sure, the shots were good and lasted an appropriate amount of time, but I wanted to just look at it and watch for characters I recognized. I guess I'll just have to get a copy of the movie to geek out over.

Not only did Goosebumps feature some above average camera work here and there, it boasted some pretty good special effects which I appreciated. Practical effects were used as often as possible. Monster suits, costumes, and make up were used instead of CGI animated creatures when it could be done, but even the digital creatures were well animated. Puppets were used to great advantage as well. Having Slappy the Ventriloquist Dummy (the movie's main antagonist) as a digitally animated creature would not have worked as well. He's a puppet, so a puppet was used to get that natural puppet movement.

Goosebumps is rated PG, and even with it's scary veneer it's a comedy adventure suitable for kids. There are lots of laughs and exciting chases to enjoy. Parts of it might get a bit too spooky for kids under 7, but overall it's a lot of fun. I laughed a whole lot during the movie. With all the mismatched monsters roaming about, it's almost like a kid-friendly version of The Cabin in the Woods. It's a fast-paced, never-boring trip to a world where stories and imagination are powerful tools. And that sort of thing just might inspire kids to do the scariest thing of all: pick up a book.

Goosebumps doesn't particularly do anything original, but what it does do is remarkably fun! There are fun characters, an uneven story, great special effects, exciting monsters, some surprising emotional heft, a generous helping of humor, and several gags at the expense of Stephen King. This is a fun movie the whole family could enjoy, especially around Halloween time! I admit that I could be viewing this movie with rose-tinted nostalgia glasses, but I really enjoyed it. You don't need to have read the books to appreciate this movie, but you certainly will have a lot more fun if you have. This is worth seeing in theaters, and I plan on getting a copy of this myself; in part because it was a good, fun movie and because it was an amusing trip down memory lane. Make sure to be on the lookout for a cameo by the real R. L. Stine.

Did you read the Goosebumps books back in the day? Which book was your favorite? Comment below and tell me why!

The Call of Cthulhu Movie Review

Chances are that if you enjoy science fiction, role-playing games, or are familiar with internet culture, you've heard of Cthulhu somewhere along the way. The  H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society (which is actually a real thing) distributed an interesting silent film adaptation of the Lovecraft classic, The Call of Cthulhu (2005).

Set sometime in during the 1920's, a dying professor (Professor Angell) leaves his great-nephew (Matt Foyer) a collection of documents pertaining to the Cthulhu Cult. The cult followers believe in an ancient deity which lies under the ocean waters, and they await the day that he will return to rule over the Earth; the Cthulhu cult are convinced that the day of reckoning is at hand. The Nephew begins to learn why the study of the cult so fascinated his great-uncle. Bit-by-bit he begins piecing together the dread implications of his great-uncle's inquiries, and soon he takes on investigating the Cthulhu cult as a crusade of his own. As he pieces together the dreadful and disturbing reality of the situation, his own sanity begins to crumble.

I have read Lovecraft's short story The Call of Cthulhu. Lovecraft's stories all took place in a similar setting, but The Call of Cthulhu is the only one where the legendary deity actually appears and frankly, it's not all that exciting a story. In fact, it's a pretty dull, slow read up until the end. I truly do not understand why it has become such a cultural icon. It has inspired and been referenced in art, music, video games, and even Saturday morning cartoons. I suppose it's just fun to toy with the idea of a fictional, all powerful deity destined to awaken and consume the world as we know it, much like we enjoy entertaining the idea of a zombie apocalypse.

The option to make this film adaptation into a silent black and white film was genius. This made the movie seem like it was contemporary to the 1920's, when the short story was first published, almost as if this were a long forgotten film from a bygone era and was only recently uncovered. It also allowed the film makers some liberty to use less expensive materials for sets and models; everything looked black and white in the final product so there was no need to spend extra money on making the color palette look exceptionally pretty.

The camera work and special effects were very much inspired by films in the 1920's. The camera angles were fairly basic and were only lopsided once in awhile to help depict character's psychological breakdown. The movie had several dream sequences that were much more surreal than movies were in the period of film style it was emulating. The visual effects were charming; lots of miniatures, blue screen, and stop-motion animation was used. There are model boats used instead of actual boats. Impressive miniature models were created and had actors in front of blue screens to show these model sets being explored. Best of all was probably the stop-motion Cthulhu which brings to mind the iconic stop-motion monsters in the 1933 King Kong movie. The whole thing feels like an old classic movie in terms of its art direction, camera work, and special effects.

But how is it as a movie? I've stated earlier that the short story which The Call of Cthulhu is based on is rather boring. The movie adheres very closely to the Lovecraft classic. Even though it is a mere forty-seven minutes in length, it is pretty slow moving. Since there is only background music and no dialogue to listen to, it's not unlikely that this movie would bore you to sleep. Reading the intertitles of dialogue might keep you engaged if you can read fast enough; they aren't on screen very long. The story still captures Lovecraft's style; the movie perfectly embodies his nihilistic world view, his cosmic perspective, and his sense that mankind is doomed by its own insignificance. It is, therefore, kind of a downer to watch. 

On the one hand, I'm glad I got to see The Call of Cthulhu for its excellent work in mimicking a basically dead filming style. But I probably would have been just fine had I not seen the film as it was boring and slow moving up until the end. I would only recommend The Call of Cthulhu to anyone who appreciates old silent films. Such fanatics will enjoy the nostalgic quality The Call of Cthulhu has to offer. I'd also recommend it anyone who is a fan of the Cthulhu Mythos (the fictional universe of H.P. Lovecraft's works). This was made by Cthulhu fans for Cthulhu fans; it was without a doubt a labor of love. If every "fan-made" movie was this well filmed and held this closely to its source material, it would put a lot of Hollywood suits out of a job. If you're not a Lovecraft fan or don't enjoy silent films, I'd pass on this one. But if you are interested, it is on instant play on NetFlix and on Hulu.com for free (as of writing this, of course).

Check out the trailer to see if this is something you might want to watch:

Do you have a story about discovering Cthulhu? On a novelty bumper sticker? Through a Dungeons and Dragons game? On a South Park episode? Share you Cthulhu story here, I'd love to hear about it!

Kung Fu Panda Movie Review

Dreamworks has done several animated movies that  were mediocre attempts to capitalize on the success of Pixar’s masterpieces. Dreamworks tried to undermine Pixar’s A Bug’s Life (1998) with Antz (1998). They did it again when they released Shark Tale (2004) after the success of Finding Nemo (2003). When Dreamworks does their own movies, instead of copying Pixar, they really let themselves shine. I’m leery of anything with Jack Black in it, so I watched Kung Fu Panda (2008) with some hesitation.

Po (Jack Black) is an overweight, lazy, irreverent panda who is a dedicated fan of Kung Fu, but his skills are limited to making noodle soup at his father’s restaurant. Po adores the Furious Five - Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Viper (Lucy Liu), and Crane (David Cross) – a team of Kung Fu masters trained by the red panda named Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) to protect their peaceful valley. One day, Shifu's mentor, the old tortoise Oogway (Randall Duk Kim), has a vision that Shifu's former student and adoptive son, the evil snow leopard Tai Lung (Ian McShane), will escape from prison and return to take revenge for being denied the Dragon Scroll, which is said to hold the secret to limitless power. Oogway holds a tournament to discover who is worthy of the Dragon Scroll and become the Dragon Warrior who can defeat Tai Lung. Through a blundering mishap, Po is selected. Shifu, lacking faith in Po, attempts to scare off Po with grueling training. But Po’s unwavering enthusiasm for Kung Fu keeps him going. True to Oogway’s vision, Tai Lung escapes and begins journeying to the temple. Po can’t seem to grasp even the most basic concepts of Kung Fu, but Shifu discovers that Po is capable of impressive physical feats when motivated by food. Using this discovery, Shifu begins training Po and incorporating these feats into a makeshift, yet effective Kung Fu style. But will it be enough to stop Tai Lung from getting the Dragon Scroll, and unlimited power?

I don’t like Jack Black on general principle; he gets cast in irritating roles in movies that do pretty badly. Year One (2009) and Gulliver's Travels (2010) are great examples of this. It’s hard to overlook these eyesores and look at his good movies, such as King Kong (2005) and Kung Fu Panda. Jack Black actually was funny in this movie. His screwball delivery really worked well with Po’s hilarious expressions. He is still playing his usual dim witted impertinent character, but Po is more interesting and complex than most of the other characters I’ve seen Jack Black play. You really do see Po develop and learn as the movie progresses. It was also good to see a hero that was a clumsy, fat character; generally the best that this archetype can hope for is a bumbling sidekick who is the brunt of most of the jokes. I’ve never seen so much belly bouncing combined with martial arts as was done with this character.

I kept becoming awestruck at the artistic scenery of the colorful ancient China. Little details here and there really helped make the art stand out; the trees, mountains, and buildings were beautifully designed. The China-inspired relics and art were comparable to actual art work of ancient China. There was a whole lot of detail in the art design, which helped make the movie endearing.

The animation was quite impressive, too. Most of the characters looked like cute, fluffy stuffed animals. This, coupled with the believable martial arts movements, created a humorous sense of irony throughout the film. Even the movements for Viper, who is a snake, were interesting; she has no arms or legs, yet her fighting movements still resembled martial arts.

I love it when I expect a movie to be substandard and I end up being wrong. Kung Fu Panda is an example of this. There’s a whole lot of slapstick in this film, but it doesn’t detract from the interesting characters and fun story that is reminiscent of old Kung Fu flicks. I’d recommend this movie to anyone, young or old. It is engaging, funny, and worth the watch.