Starring Jack Black and Dylan Minette. Rated PG

Why turn just one or two of Goosebumps' 100-plus stories into a movie when you can roll out all of its goofy-scary monsters in one go?

The concept will thrill the 8-to-12-year-olds who devour the books, and—sorry to report—bore or exhaust the adults accompanying them.

The premise is that secretive Goosebumps author R.L. Stine, played here by Jack Black in Grade A ham mode, has a stash of original manuscripts that, when unlocked, release the monsters he's written about. When new kid in town Zack (Dylan Minnette) discovers the secret library with Stine's daughter, Hannah (Odeya Rush), all hell breaks loose—in the most gently scary way possible.

Among the "horrors" are a cartoonish abominable snowman and a werewolf in basketball sneakers, made even less threatening by iffy CGI.

For a movie with knife-wielding lawn trolls and maniacal wooden dummies, Goosebumps is surprisingly formulaic: Zack's father has died and he's having trouble fitting in at the new high school. Don't expect to see the first monster till 30 to 40 minutes in.

From there it's a hyperactive ride, though. Director Rob Letterman finds some warped humour in Slappy the Dummy (also voiced by Black), and there's a spectacular ride on an abandoned ferris wheel through the forest. But one wonders if Tim Burton, originally attached to this project, might have brought a more twisted energy to this weirdly generic joy ride.

Then again, as the film casually points out, Stine has sold over 400 million books worldwide. And that's a lot of potential movie audience members who'll get goosebumps at the thought of seeing his creatures come to life. -