Comparisons galore!

Rating: 8/10 (10 September 2017)

Never having written a review before, I find myself feeling a bit out of water but I have to talk about this film! More so the similarities and differences from the miniseries and the book. The film is beautifully shot as is the miniseries. The cast is amazing namely the kids that play Beverly, Richie and Eddie.. Ben is adorable but I've always had a soft spot for the Ben of the miniseries. Speaking of which, I don't like that mike's role of historian was given to Ben
It was a story line shared with his father, who in the books, is the only sane adult! He was my favourite character from the book and now he's dead and Mike lives with his grandfather! Wtf? Their relationship was beautiful! He taught him to be strong and smart in the face of racism. Ben had his story line. He crushes on bev and he and his mother have moved to derry because his father died and they now rely on his aunt. Where is all that?? He's been reduced to "just some fat kid" Being honest, I preferred the kids from the miniseries but maybe that's because they padded their stories better and they spent more time showing them bonding. There's hardly any of that in the new movie. Skarsgard gives us a different pennywise and he does it well. He's creepy, childlike and hungry. I did LOL a couple of times. But I think I was meant to. The abusive undertones of Beverly and her father's relationship are there and they are done well. As in the book, he hasn't started abusing her yet but she knows that, like herself, he can see that she is becoming a woman. And the fear of something happening can be just as frightening as the actual act. It gets under your skin and you're rooting for her when she does exactly what you want to climb into the screen and do. What was scary about the book and mini series was the contribution or ignorance to the violence from the adults that are meant to be children's safety. This movie doesn't even scratch the surface of that. Tbh, the scariest parts with IT in the book weren't even with the losers club. It was with the bullies and other children. The bullies aren't given anything here. Except for Henry but it feels out of nowhere. There are things that pay homage to the book that I liked. The use of a fridge was good. People are complaining about CGI. And that's just crap. Ignore that complaint completely. It's a shapeshifting monster for crying out loud! No orgy but a nice little homage in a blood oath and on Eddies cast. I will never understand why people freak out about the orgy but are totally fine with child murder. Overall, it's a good film. It's well worth a watch, even if like me, it's just to see what they done and didn't do with the source material. But let's not ruin it for ourselves. Take the miniseries and this film as 2 completely different things. What one lacks, the other provides.. But do yourself a favour and go to the big screen and enjoy it with the electricity that a crowd will provide.