Director: Ari Sandel
Writer: Rob Lieber (Screenplay) Rob Lieber, Darren Lemke (Story)
Starring: Wendi McLendon-Covey, Madison Iseman, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Caleel Harris, Ken Jeong, Chris Parnell
Plot: Two young friends find a magic book that brings a ventriloquist’s dummy to life.
Tagline – Halloween comes to life.
Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Not as Fun as it Should Be
Story: Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween when college bound Sarah (Iseman) is left to look after her little brother Sonny (Taylor) and his friend Sam (Harris) who have their own business known as the ‘Junk Bros’, the two discover Slappy while on the job and must deal with the psychotic dummy.
The three soon find themselves needing to fight off Slappy and his creations, leading to them needing to uncover the book by R.L. Stine which can stop his reign of terror, bringing to life the creations from the books.
Thoughts on Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween
Characters – Sarah is the older sister, she is about to head off to college if she can figure out how to write her application letter. She must reluctantly babysit her younger brother and his friend, while dealing with her own personal problems, even if this could bring her the answer she requires. Sonny is the younger brother that gets himself into trouble a lot, when it comes to his creation, along with his best friend Sam. Sam is the wise talking of the two he offers the business, he must help solve the problem of Slappy. Kathy is the single mother forced to work longer hours to make sure her kids have the future, she remains calm through the chaos going on through the film.
Performances – The performances are simple enough, the younger stars, Madison Iseman, Jeremy Ray Taylor and Caleel Harris are good for what they have to do, only to not be on the same level of the previous film. Wendi McLendon-Covey gets the basic parent role done without bring too much new to the character.
Story – The story here sees the creations of R.L. Stine coming to life causing chaos in a city once again. This is where the story falls flat quickly because the story feels like just a remake of the first, the Goosebumps books are an amazing source of stories and maybe instead of just throwing every monster made into one story, we should think about making one of the stories into a movie, or even as an anthology. We try to have some family bonding put into the story and even elements of coming of age, with Sarah needing to decide her future. In the end this story just isn’t that interesting and by the end you won’t have missed much.
Adventure/Comedy/Family – The adventure takes the teenagers into a battle that only they can solve, which is basic to say the least, but they must save the town. The comedy is hit or miss without being much laugh out loud material. This plays into the family side of the film because more of the younger audience will be enjoying this one.
Settings – The film is set in a town which is considered small where the people need to get out of if they are going to make something with their life.
Special Effects – The effects in this film are good for the most part, the creations all look like they could be in the world.
Scene of the Movie – Gummy bear fight.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The story not being original.
Final Thoughts – This is a basic sequel that just copies the original too much, it offers nothing new and is just passable watch for the younger audience.
Overall: Simple and not original.
Rating
