A Coming of Age film with a terrifyingly playful Dancing Clown

Rating: 9/10 (8 September 2017)

Good: Right from the beginning, the movie grips you and proves to be a promising horror movie. The cast all-around are excellent and have great chemistry together. The movie zones in on the adolescents and creates feelings and emotions for the main characters, while also telling the story of their daily life conflicts. The conversations the characters have also provide comedic moments sprinkled throughout the movie. Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise is amazing and acts in such a creepy and effective way to convey a clown we can all fear. In the beginning, the movie does not rely on jump scares; instead it goes for a creepy and unsettling tone with its ominous imagery. The horror elements are well done, thanks to director Andy Muschietti. Also the cinematography does a great job of having an 80s vibe and pays homage to old-school horror.
Bad: At times the pacing is slow and can drag on a bit even in the horror parts. The children's conflicts with fear can get repetitive as it has the need to show all 7 of them dealing with Pennywise and not technically moving the story along with all of them. When CGI was needed for Pennywise it came as a distraction and had a shaky cam look. As the film draws to an end the scenes tend to be less effective and drag on as it creeps its way to the climax.
Overall: This movie is excellent with a great cast that has to band together and discover ways to resolve each other's conflicts. "It" satisfies the "Stranger Things" crave and even gets a little more out of its clown antagonist. "It" is definitely worth the watch in a theater as you can appreciate the coming-of-age and horror aspects mixed together.
4.3/5