My son just turned 11, meaning that he’s still well within the prime demographic for R.L. Stine’s popular Goosebumps series. Never one to shy away from the spookier side of literature myself–he actually caught the bug reading my old copies of Scary Stories–I’m more than happy to indulge his interest.
Our house is littered with copies of many of the 62 Goosebumps books as well as those from various spin-off titles, and my boy seemingly always has one in-hand. Occasionally, he’ll even coax his 8-year-old sister into sitting down with him to brave one of the episodes from the 1990s television series.
So, of course, when Jack Black’s big screen adaptation of Goosebumps hit our local cinema, we piled into the car and made our way out to one of our all-too-infrequent family movie nights. I found the film enjoyable enough, which is good because I knew I’d soon be watching the home video version on an endless loop. This prophecy came to pass late last month when Goosebumps arrived in Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s preferred Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy hybrid format.
If you and your geeklings grokked the theatrical debut, you’ll be pleased to find it’s landed on your media shelf intact. While the fidelity of the Blu-ray and Ultraviolet presentations obviously outshines the meager DVD transfer, even that lesser format still looks and sounds great.
This set features ample bonus content, some of it shared between the Blu-ray and DVD versions. Each includes a primer on surviving common Goosebumps monster attacks and a fun behind-the-scenes featurette called “Strange Things are Happening… On-Set.” (Insert ominous music here.) The Blu-ray, of course, gets the lion’s share of the extras, including deleted scenes, a blooper real, a casting gallery, and an alternate opening and ending.
All that said, Goosebumps, with its age-appropriate scares and Jack Black’s trademark scene-chewing, has been a welcome addition to our regular viewing rotation. Upon subsequent showings I’ve reaffirmed that Jillian Bell’s Aunt Lorraine and Amy Ryan’s Dale Cooper are, indeed, delightful, and I especially appreciate that having the film on Blu-ray allows me a proper chance to enjoy the outlandish set pieces–not to mention the otherworldly set design.
The combo pack’s currently available via Amazon for a mere $23, and it’s an easy recommendation at that price. It’s a solid family film that, while a little predictable for adults, is sure to satisfy your Goosebumps-loving children–not to mention your own creepy inner child.
Review material provided by: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
