Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween

Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween will amuse young kids, but overall it isn't as lively or exciting as its predecessor, and less screentime for Jack Black is a bummer.

This lacklustre sequel to the 2015 hit Goosebumps hardly has enough jokes to qualify as a comedy, which leaves it stranded in the netherworld of near-horror, aimed at children supposedly not yet ready for the real thing.

It lacks the genuinely creepy edge of the original.

It just feels like Sony really wanted to get a sequel out, rushing a lot of elements and making the end product feel disposable.

It's pointless and bland. Like a bargain-basement Jumanji. The Z-list cast struggle.

Goosebumps 2 is a lively and colourful ghost train ride, with some well-judged scares that would have been at home in its 1980s Amblin forerunners, such as The Goonies and Young Sherlock Holmes.

Goosebumps 2 certainly has its heart in the right place, but that doesn't keep it from feeling like stale, year-old candy.

The second film in a franchise with so much existing material to pull from should simply never be this dull.

Subversive, yet always fun for all Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween is spooky with added "Ooo!" and is destined to become a family Halloween classic.

The blend of family-friendly movie monsters is sure to inspire a love of horror in young audiences.