Wrong tone sinks this

Rating: 3/10 (27 October 2019)

I saw the original two part made for television movie "It" when it was first broadcast in 1990, and I enjoyed it very much. I then subsequently read the original Stephen King novel the movie was based on, and not only did I enjoy it as well, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the television movie stuck to what happened in the novel for the most part. When this 2017 theatrical remake came out, I was a little hesitant to watch it, in part because it was already done very well back in 1990, and this remake announced it was updating the time period. But when the movie came on Netflix, I decided to give it a look, seeing that it would be a free viewing.
It did not take me long to realize that this remake was pretty much a failure. To sum up how this remake gets it wrong, I'll just say that it's too "rock n roll" to work. The novel and the original 1990 movie were calmer, more subtle, and as a result were much more effective in building and sustaining horror. Also, this remake pretty much guts the original story to do its own thing. Maybe that was so it couldn't be compared to the original movie and make it be judged on its own merits. I can understand that, but what they do instead is hammer onto the audience over and over one "jump scare" after another with what seems to be random horror images instead of one true menace. This got old REALLY fast, and I soon didn't care about the characters or what was happening. It's almost plotless.
With the original novel still in print, and the original TV movie available on DVD and Blu-ray, there's no reason to seek out this remake. I strongly suspect King himself feels it's one of the lesser adaptations of his written works.