Prepare for a confusing, aimless, shallow romp through insanity

Rating: 2/10 (10 September 2019)

I never saw the original and never read the book. So I must be missing something. No character development outside of basic necessities in which I wasn't sure if I was supposed to like the characters or not. Bev was by far the most interesting character, followed by the bully. Pennywise was fantastic in the first scene (2 stars just for that). I got excited about the potential scenes of him toying with characters. Should they trust him or fear him? Will he outsmart them or will they escape? SO MUCH FOR THAT.
The rest of the movie is him appearing and disappearing, a monster, then a smiling harmless clown.
There is no plot. There's no arc. It just kinda meanders around the characters then jumps ahead a few months for the climax. REALLY? Nothing happens between June and August that would help build the suspense? Maybe give them a false sense of security?
They clearly knew there would be a chapter 2, so why didn't they focus on making you like the characters? Why didn't they plan the first movie around an escalation to Chapter 2?
If you want a high school thriller with a kid in a yellow slicker and dark tunnels that hinges on events every couple of decades, go watch Dark on Netflix. 1 MILLION times better than this.