KID’S TAKE ON MOVIES

‘Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween’

Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween is spooky, fun and creative. It is very engaging and entertaining throughout the whole film. The story is about a young boy, Sonny (Jeremy Ray Taylor) and his best friend, Sam (Caleel Harris) who find a book. When they open it, a doll called Slappy comes out. The boys lose the book but keep Slappy. The friends are very surprised and a bit scared when they discover that the doll can talk. He seems nice at the beginning. He wants to have a family. But later, the boy, his sister Sarah (Madison Iseman) and his best friend realize he is strange and don’t want him to be part of their family anymore. Slappy has his own personal agenda and decides to create his own family. He makes Halloween come to life as he invades the whole town with monsters and all the creatures as allies. This is a very scary Halloween for the town of Wardenclyffe, where the story takes place, as all the creatures make real chaos. Sonny, Sam and Sarah team up with neighbor Mr. Chu (Ken Jeong) to find the book that Slappy came from to figure out how to stop him. They discover that the book can suck up monsters, and they are determined to save the city. The movie is funny and spooky in equal amounts. My favorite scenes are the ones with the Halloween decorations coming to life in the store and the fight with the gummy bears that become real and attack Sonny and Sam. The message of this film is: “When we face our own fears, we learn how not to be scared.” I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars and recommended it for ages 6 to 13 and grown-ups as well.