Movie Review: It (2017)
Synopsis: A summer after his younger brother disappeared, Bill Denbrough and his friends discover a clown-like demon in the sewers of Derry, Maine that appears every 27 years to terrorize the town. Realizing the demon is weak when they are together, they attempt to stop it.
Who's in it? Jaeden Lieberher, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Chosen Jacobs and Finn Wolfhard.
Review: I have been very hesitant about watching this movie, mostly because I'm not a huge fan of remakes and, while the previews looked OK, I just couldn't get over those doubts. However, my oldest daughter wanted to see this movie and we had several people tell us it was very scary so I decided to finally give it a try.
As it turns out, my first instinct about it was correct. I just didn't think this was that good of a movie.
It's not as though I was a huge fan of the 1990 original, which I thought was decent but not overly memorable despite having some well-known actors. It's just that this movie had a a bigger budget, better special effects technology and wasn't limited by the same content restrictions the made-for-TV original had. It should have been better as a result of that and completely failed to be.
I think my biggest problem with this movie had to be the kids. They just didn't seem to have the same chemistry the cast of the original film had and, call me old-fashioned, but I'm just not a fan of movies that seem to think it is important to have kids' dialog that consists of a swear word (or multiple swear words) every other sentence.
I also have to say I think Tim Curry made a much better Pennywise than Bill Skarsgard. Skarsgard's version wasn't awful, it's just Curry's version had personality while Skarsgard didn't do much more than say a few lines and growl a lot.
In fact, I think this movie's Pennywise wasn't even as menacing as as the group of bullies tormenting Bill (Lieberher) and his friends. Those guys were psychotic and made Pennywise kind of boring in comparison. Heck, I almost wonder if the movie would have been better had they been the focus and the evil clown never came out of the sewer.
Final Opinion: I'm not going to say this movie was worse than the original. But, it also wasn't any better and, considering it had a bigger budget, that's just not good enough. So, I'm choosing to grade on a curve and give it a lower grade than the 1990 version.
My Grade: D
Who's in it? Jaeden Lieberher, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Chosen Jacobs and Finn Wolfhard.
Review: I have been very hesitant about watching this movie, mostly because I'm not a huge fan of remakes and, while the previews looked OK, I just couldn't get over those doubts. However, my oldest daughter wanted to see this movie and we had several people tell us it was very scary so I decided to finally give it a try.
As it turns out, my first instinct about it was correct. I just didn't think this was that good of a movie.
It's not as though I was a huge fan of the 1990 original, which I thought was decent but not overly memorable despite having some well-known actors. It's just that this movie had a a bigger budget, better special effects technology and wasn't limited by the same content restrictions the made-for-TV original had. It should have been better as a result of that and completely failed to be.
I think my biggest problem with this movie had to be the kids. They just didn't seem to have the same chemistry the cast of the original film had and, call me old-fashioned, but I'm just not a fan of movies that seem to think it is important to have kids' dialog that consists of a swear word (or multiple swear words) every other sentence.
I also have to say I think Tim Curry made a much better Pennywise than Bill Skarsgard. Skarsgard's version wasn't awful, it's just Curry's version had personality while Skarsgard didn't do much more than say a few lines and growl a lot.
In fact, I think this movie's Pennywise wasn't even as menacing as as the group of bullies tormenting Bill (Lieberher) and his friends. Those guys were psychotic and made Pennywise kind of boring in comparison. Heck, I almost wonder if the movie would have been better had they been the focus and the evil clown never came out of the sewer.
Final Opinion: I'm not going to say this movie was worse than the original. But, it also wasn't any better and, considering it had a bigger budget, that's just not good enough. So, I'm choosing to grade on a curve and give it a lower grade than the 1990 version.
My Grade: D
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