It Subverts Expectations With Well Drawn Characters and an Interesting Yet Scary Story

Rating: 9/10 (14 September 2017)

*Minor Spoilers Ahead* IT begins in 1988 where Georgie (Jackson Robert Scott) is trying to take his paper boat to sail out in the rain. His brother Bill (Jaeden Lieberher) would normally go with him but he's feeling under the weather. Georgie takes his boat out and it races down the street with the rain and the prevailing current. The boat takes a turn into the sewers and when Georgie bends down to reach it, he discovers Pennywise "The Dancing Clown" (Bill Skarsgard). Pennywise is maybe too friendly and while Georgie is apprehensive of him at first, Pennywise coaxes him closer to the drain. He promises to give him his boat back but Georgie is snatched and dragged into the sewer.
One year later, more kids are vanishing yet the adults seem to either not notice or don't care. Bill and his friends: Richie (Finn Wolfhard), Eddie Kaspbrack (Jack Dylan Grazer), Stanley (Wyatt Oleff), Mike (Chosen Jacobs), Ben (Jeremy Ray Taylor) and Beverley (Sophia Lillis) are all separately visited by Pennywise and experience nightmares. Together, they combine their efforts to face him and discover how through their friendship, they can overcome anything.
A lot of movies about kids don't trust kids to be able to handle some of the tougher subjects. I've read a few of Stephen King's books and a consistent theme is the dirtier side of small town living. IT has that at the forefront and I think its a better movie for it. Sure, it will make for some uncomfortable moments for more sensitive viewers but the problems facing The Losers Club (minus Pennywise) are all very real. I can't say really young kids should watch this movie, it can be graphic. But instead of shying away from how dark King's material, they play into it and it really helped ground the movie.
So while they don't shy away from the dark environment facing these kids, the other big surprise from this movie was how they put the time in to make you care about these kids. I can't remember the last time a horror movie made me feel this scared for the potential victims. None of these kids deserve the fate that Pennywise would subject them to. They aren't dealing with Twilight or Degrassi problems, these are some very serious issues (almost homicidal bullies, possible sexual assault, dealing with the premature death of a young sibling, hypochondria etc.) and I felt for every single one of these kids. It also helps you get attached to their friendship, camaraderie is hard to buy unless its done right but IT excels at that. When they must band together to face this evil, instead of it being corny, I bought into it and I wanted them to survive.
Moving from developing the characters, the actors/actresses more than carry their share of the load. They did a great job finding capable kid actors and they all shine. If I had to single out a couple of them, I would credit Jaeden Lieberher, Sophia Lillis, Jack Dylan Grazer and Jeremy Ray Taylor as being the standouts. Where child actors usually struggle, they thrived in this movie. I also have to tip my hat to Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise. He's helped up by some impressive special effects but he makes Pennywise threatening and lends an unpredictable element to the character that may not have come through with another actor.
IT is being advertised as the next great horror movie and while I'm happy to report that IT is genuinely frightening, it isn't perfect. There are scenes filled with terror (my favourite is a scary set piece with a slide projector) and there are even some really funny scenes. This is mostly carried by the character Richie who is vulgar but completely believable (so many dick jokes). My only complaint is that while Pennywise is motivated to frighten the children first, he beats around the bush a lot. He is so powerful and his abilities are crazy, there were so many times where he had these kids isolated and vulnerable and for no reason he didn't kill them. It was just one of those situations where the villain is more concerned in playing with his food more than getting the job done and there isn't a believable reason why.
I had some minor problems with IT but very little of those issues coloured my overall opinion of this movie. With all the hype surrounding IT, this could have been a big letdown. But this movie was excellent and I get why so many people are going nuts over IT. With this being advertised as chapter 1, I'm excited to see the next entry in this potential series. If you're in the mood for some backwater horror thrills, IT could be the film you're looking for. I would grade IT at 8.5/10 rounding up to a 9. IT also might make you scared of clowns and make you double-take at red balloons as a side-effect. Keep that in mind as the trade-off.