Movie Review: R.L. Stine's, Mostly Ghostly: Who Let the Ghost's Out?

I guess whomever put this movie together thought that using the Lohan name in advertising would be enough to save it from the wreck that it was.

I personally only watched the flick based on the fact that Lindsay Lohans little sister Ali had a role in the movie. Without the Lohan name added, I would have skipped this one entirely.

Had I known that Ali's part would be so small, shallow, and near insignificant I wouldn't of watched it at all. Mainly her roles consisted of trying to portray a hot girl by acting conceited.

Anyhow, Mostly Ghostly is a book that was made into a movie by R.L. Stine.

It is about a young boy named Max who has dreams to become the world's greatest magician. In the beginning besides learning about Max, you also learn about some evil spirit named Fear that dwells within Max's house as well.

The evil spirit though is not the only other non-worldly presence at the home. 2 children named Nicky and Tara also were previous residents of the home, and when they come back looking for their parents, they meet Max.

The 2 children want Max's help finding their parents!

As soon as the children show up, the evil spirit named Phear is on the look out for them. He fears that these 2 children will ruin his plans to open the door that would allow his evil spirits and demons out of the sealed realm, which is conveniently located in Max's basement.

Fear manages to snab Tara while Max is busy ignoring her due to the fact that he is working on getting his school crush to like him more (Ali Lohan, plays the hot crush Max likes). After Tara is snatched by Phear, it is now up to Max and Nicky to save her, and keep the evil spirits from entering the real world.

In order to save his new ghostly friends he must enter this sealed realm in the basement, only Max can go alone, because for some reason ghosts cannot enter.

Once In the basement he meets up with Tara (I thought ghosts couldn't enter?) who is being held prisoner by the league of Phear's evil demon followers. Tara gives him a box which contains a ring that she tells him he must wear during the schools talent show, where Max will put on a magic show.

At the talent show Nicky helps Max put on a killer cool magic show, however in the middle of the show Phear shows up...

Without ruining the ending to Mostly Ghostly I'll add in my 2 cents.

Mostly Ghostly was a good book by R.L. Stine, but that does not mean a good book will turn out to be a good movie, because Mostly Ghostly was pretty bad in my opinion.

The movie is geared at younger children, but it is far from what I would consider a good children's movie. Normally I enjoy kiddie movies so long as it delivers good acting, and a good plot. Mostly Ghostly though, just failed.

What managed to turn a good plot into a crappy one is the fact that the acting is horrible. Yep, bad acting is always the deal killer for me, and Mostly Ghostly has some pretty horrendous acting.

Max is a total over acting drama queen which makes his character seem completely fake, and annoying, while his older brother who is supposed to be this big cool jock, manages to sound like a sissy in every line he delivers. It's like throwing a football uniform on a geek and calling him cool. It just does not play out well(any of you 80's children remember the movie Lucas? Yeah, like that), nor does it look believable.

In all honesty the only actors worth anything were Nicky and Tara the two ghost children. The best acting though in the ENTIRE flick were delivered by the youngest child in the entire movie, Tara the little ghost girl.

How sad that Madison Pettis, the youngest character in the movie was the best actor!? Well it is true, she is the only one who has acting skills, and she was about 6 or 7 years old.

Ali Lohan (the reason I watched the movie) just seemed fake and uncomfortable in every scene. In all honesty I'm confused about why she is even on the cover of the DVD, when she barely played a part. They may as well of just thrown Phear on the cover, Max's older brother, or Max's school bully Billy, seeing how they played a larger part in the movie than she had.

All in all Mostly Ghostly: Who Let The Ghost's Out? is one of those 1.5 star flicks that some children may enjoy. The movie does have some very minor parts that some children may consider scary, so yeah... make note of it mom and dad.