Michael Bay's It

Rating: 4/10 (23 September 2019)

The magic of the 1990 mini series was left out of this one for me.
I enjoyed the original series because it centered on weighty conflicts for the individuals. The challenge of keeping a promise you made. Summoning the courage and bravery to fight the monsters in your life. To stand aside from your peers and become a leader. To realize that you'll need to fight as a group or be torn apart, etc. It felt like these kids were going on an adventure/journey that would have a lasting impact on their lives.
The 2017 movie failed to do that for me. I felt like it leaned too heavily on CGI and filming effects. The backstory seemed very short. The movie felt satisfied with being a generic horror movie rather than trying to do anything more. I think the 1990 segmented flashbacks did a hugely better job conveying how strongly the events of the story impacted the characters.
In the miniseries I loved seeing Bill deciding to fight for what he believed in, and to lead the others to do the same. A group of kids coming together to be stronger than their individual parts. I had a hard time searching for that admiration with the 2017 version.
While watching the 2017 version I kept feeling like the film was trying too hard to be scary. For me, 'It' isn't a story about fear, it's a story about coming together and finding strength in yourself through others. To do things that you didn't know you were capable of. I don't need to see another generic horror movie that's dark, has creepy jerky walking, and showcases the CGI gross out scares on-screen for the audience to marvel at. I thought the clown was overdone; it is so overpowered that I felt like the kids should have been killed multiple times. There seems to be very little depth to it.
One of the things I really liked was the casting- the kids seemed well chosen and I thought the acting was good.
I heard lots of raving about Skarsgard. He wasn't a bad actor for me, but I really couldn't connect with the character. I preferred to see an anonymous, vaguely eerie apparition more subtly tempting the children in multiple forms. It felt like there was more depth and something to be interested in with that.

I'm not sure if I recommend watching this one. At the least, watch the 1990 mini series first if you haven't. There's not much foreplay here, and too much time wasted in the dark and on overdone horror tropes.