Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween
Cast: Wendi McLendon-Covey, Madison Iseman, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Jack Black
Director: Ari Sandel
This is a sequel to the 2015 released film Goosebumps. The
action in this film revolves around three kids. The precocious budding
scientist and electricity obsessed Sonny (Jeremy Ray Taylor) whose
experiments with wireless electricity follow the trail blazed by his
hero Nikolai Tesla, his best friend Sam (Caleel Harris) and Sonny's
older sister Sarah (Madison Iseman) who is an aspiring writer.
The main representative of evil, here, is the charmless Slappy (voiced
by Mick Wingert) a sneering ventriloquist's dummy in a natty charcoal
suit, who was found in a dilapidated home which once supposedly belonged
to R.L. Stine the original author of Goosebumps series.
Sonny and Sam in their bid to earn some extra pocket money dig him out from the waste along an unpublished Stine manuscript.
Upon opening the book and reciting an attached incantation, Slappy
springs to life and he resembles a demanding new born baby. And he wants
nothing more than to be a part of Sonny's family. But when he is denied
that wish, all hell breaks loose by bringing to life an army of
Halloween monsters, including numerous Goosebumps characters as well as
sharp-toothed gummy bears, giant spider formed by balloons and flying
witches.
There is enough fun in the plot to propel the narrative forward, but they never quite hit the level of its predecessor.
The action lacks the yelling, screaming and running away, that made the
previous edition a likeable film. This edition is a tad insipid and
lacks flavour.
As for the performances, all the actors are competent. Wendy
McLendon-Covey has a thankless role as Sonny and Sarah's mother and Ken
Jeong is there as their weird, Halloween-enthusiast neighbour. There are
a couple of bullies there to provide some additional villainy stuff.
The biggest issue in this edition is the miniscule role of Jack Black.
And despite appearing as R.L. Stine in the last few minutes of the film,
he does not leave an impact as how he did in the earlier Goosebumps.
Overall, Goosebumps 2 fails to give you enough goose bumps as it is a routine, funnily scary and mediocre film.
Rating: 2.5/5
Tags:
HOLLYWOOD