An Imperfect Circus

Rating: 6/10 (26 September 2017)

IT, is a meaty book with no pun intended. There are lots of chapters, sub-plots, back stories and seemingly unrelated pieces of information that the reader has to absorb during their journey - so much so, that it requires multiple reads to really get to grips with all its nuances and clever sleight-of-hands.
IT, the movie, is a perfectly well manufactured, formulated attempt at emulating a story that - if I'm completely honest - never really lent itself to the big screen (or the little one for that matter) and here's why I think that is.
The story itself is far too rich and layered to be condensed into a film with a run time of 2 hours something. Paradoxically, it's too direct and concise to be elongated into a series of films. The net result is a standalone that, even if you've read the book, won't answer any of the questions you're likely to have as the credits roll - so here are a number of things that I think would have helped its cause.
Firstly, this film shouldn't have been given a 15 cert. With the exception of a couple of scenes it could have been passed as a 12A, opening it up to a younger audience who I think would enjoy this movie a great deal, in the same way that Stranger Things has managed to appeal - but unfortunately, the producers and accountants have sat on the fence with this; choosing to market IT to an older audience for fear of softening the reputation of the book and therefore putting 'grown-ups' off altogether.
Secondly, the cap-tipping to projects such as Stranger Things and The Goonies is all too obvious to see here. It could be argued that this version wouldn't have even been made without the inspiration of the aforementioned, but that didn't give the creators licence to plagiarise in such an overt fashion - and sadly, that's exactly what has happened. While the whole 80's renaissance is welcome, the approach taken here now looks hackneyed in comparison.
That said, it's not a BAD movie - it's just a movie you've seen before. The jumps are where the jumps should be, the screams are where the screams should be. It attempts to please all the people, all the time; and as such it's not a GREAT movie. The Goonies was a GREAT movie, Stranger Things is a GREAT series; IT is still waiting to be adapted in a way that really resonates with the book; this version however, doesn't do that despite I'm sure, the sincerest of efforts. There will be a sequel; or perhaps a set of sequels - whether or not they're needed, remains to be seen.
6.3/10.