DVD Review HTF DVD Review: R.L. Stine's Mostly Ghostly (1 Viewer)

[Neil Middlemiss]

R.L Stine's Mostly Ghostly




Studio: Universal Studios Family Productions
Year: 2008
US Rating: PG
Film Length: 98 Mins
Aspect Ratio: 1:78.1 + 1.33:1
Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: Optional English SDH, French and Spanish




US Release Date: September 30, 2008

The Film - :star::star:

out of :star::star::star::star::star:

“And now, ladies and gentlemen, to kick off tonight's entertainment I am pleased to present Max the magnificent and his equally magnificent assistant Traci Walker.”

R.L. Stine is a prolific author of scary tales for children. Perhaps most famous for his ‘GooseBumps’ series, he has penned over three hundred books filled with plenty of scary, creepy and frightening things that go bump in the night and a slew of children smart enough to overcome them. His success has continued on television and now with a series of direct to DVD movies designed to scare and entertain children.

Young Max is a little awkward. He is very much into his magic act, hates sports and becomes tongue tied when in the presence of his crush at school. One day he discovers a magical incantation on a piece of paper that his dog dug up in the yard. Practicing his magic act in his bedroom and trying out his new magic chant, he attracts unwelcome attention from a ghastly ghost figure called Phears – The Animal traveler. Max lives with his loving parents and an antagonizing brother who his father favors for his equal love of sport and none of them are aware of the evil tunnel that exists just behind the wall in their basement where Phears and his ghosts await release on Halloween

While Max dedicates his free time to perfecting his magic act, which he will be presenting during the festivities on Halloween night, two young kids appear near his house and discover that they are ghosts. These two apparitions, a brother and sister called Nicky and Tara, have no idea where their parents are and head back to their home. Unfortunately, they discover that a strange family has moved into their house. And that family is Max’s. While no-one else can see them, Max can and they soon team up to find out what happened to their parents, fight the evil Phears and help Max perform his magic show, make progress with his crush and save him from the school bully.

Unlike last years The Haunting Hour DVD release, Mostly Ghoslty is assembled into an uneven, tepid and largely dull hour and a half, offering none of the sure-footed storytelling or likeable characters. Key among the films drawbacks is a highly questionable level of talent in the principle players. Max is a likeable idea of a character, but the performance by Sterling Beaumon is borderline aggravating at times. The occasional slapstick action is mismanaged and the comedic timing is frequently out of sync. The ghostly kids in this outing are played by Luke Benward (Nicky) and Madison Pettis (Tara). Energetic young actors that appear to be trying hard, but something is missing. Perhaps it’s the script they are working with or the direction they were given, but there is a lack of focus from them and those around them that dilute the fun. Max’s parents do okay with their parts, portraying an appropriately oblivious and goofy Mom and Dad. And Ali Lohan has a small and very throwaway part as Max’s crush, Traci. The film could very well have done without the distraction of the stock plot piece that the Traci character occupies. All is not lost, however, as there is one performance that is genuinely entertaining and that comes from Brian Stepanek as Phears – The Animal Traveler. Stepanek (The Suite Life of Zack and Cody) doesn’t take the evil doer role too seriously, but is able to be imposing enough when needed. Most of the film’s working comedy comes from this ghoulish figure – which is one of the film’s few bright spots.

Written by Jana Godshall, Pat Croft and Richard Correll, and directed by Correll, Mostly Ghostly suffers from a slow beginning, muddled plotting and disappointing distraction with blandness. The introduction of characters is a little haphazard also, with the two young ghosts being dropped into the story with no set up. Films like this, for kids, can rarely afford that lack of linear storytelling and the disservice here hampers the unfolding of the film that already has a little too much plot going on. The kid-friendly visual effects are of television quality (which is a complement, these days) and the make-up effects are solid. If more time and attention had focused on the ghoulish figures living in the tunnel behind the wall in Max’s basement, there may have been more to recommend from this experience.

Admittedly, this film will appeal to the ten years old and under crowd, and in many ways skews much younger than that, but it fails to include the ingredient that would bridge to an older demographic or provide entertainment value for parents watching with their sub-ten year old kids. A shame since there is such a great opportunity to provide good scares, with kids being the heroes these days.






The Video - :star::star::star: out of :star::star::star::star::star:

Universal Studios Family Productions brings us this kid’s scary flick to DVD in anamorphic widescreen 1.78:1 along with a full screen version option.

As with last years The Haunting Hour

 

[Ockeghem]

Neil,

Thanks for the review. I too preferred Stine's The Haunting Hour much more so than Mostly Ghostly. I watched Mostly Ghostly- Who Let the Ghosts Out? (2008) about a week ago. I liked some of it, and my children really enjoyed it. But you're correct regarding the film needing something that would have bridged an older demographic.

Incidentally, Brian Stepanek may be a talent waiting to happen. I've seen him on the show you cite, but recently his silent work in Brian O'Brien has at times been quite imaginative and funny. He recently played a janitor sweeping a stage, who then fancies himself an instrumentalist in an orchestra, playing all of the instruments. It's actually not too bad.

I wrote this bit up on the film after I saw it. It's not nearly as complete as your review, but maybe you might find a tidbit here or there that will be helpful in some way.

****************

Mostly Ghostly (2008). :star: 1/2

This is a new Disney film, featuring many stars from different television shows airing on Disney (Madison Pettis, Brian Stipanek, David DeLuise, et al.) It also featured a brief appearance by Noah Cyrus. It was an okay film, and our children loved it. It was directed by Rich Correll, who has directed a few of the Hannah Montana episodes as well as a couple of episodes of other shows on the Disney channel.

The major points of the film dealt with a boy and his younger sister, now ghosts, trying to reunite with their mother and father. A secondary plot had to do with the magician boy (Max, a real person) having to say a complete spell (he knew only half of it) so that he could send all of the evil ghosts back to the underworld. Max was the only one who could see the ghosts from the beginning of the film; they enlist his help (and he, theirs on occasion -- particularly when he was trying to get even with a bully on the school bus) and eventually all works out well in the end.

The 'creep' factor was kind of high in parts for our youngest kids, but not too bad for their mother and father. "Phears" (the lead ghost) was the best villain, in my opinion. And the young boy in the film did a fairly good job. Lindsay Lohan's sister (Ali) was also in the film, and played the upper classman 'crush' of the younger boy, who eventually got her to be his assistant in his magic show. Needless to say, when the real ghosts appeared at the show, his act got the best hand.

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

Thanks - We appear to have come away from this film with the same feelings. I think you are right in that Mr. Stepanek is a genuinely good talent who should be in store for roles of greater 'significance'.