Flawed but Fun

Rating: 5/10 (27 September 2017)

I don't want to pick this one apart in too much detail as it did raise a lot of questions while I was watching that were just never answered.
In short this is a mostly entertaining if maybe too long winded movie loosely based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. For those who missed the 2 part mini series starring Tim Curry as Pennywise the clown, that movie was basically a direct to TV affair that lacked most of what made the book such a great read. This movie does provide some more blood and shape-shifting effects that its moderate budget allows, but it doesn't go with the source material in providing too much in the way of background into what Pennywise is and what the link to the town of Derry is all about. For me this is one of the main issues with the movie.
The young group of early teens provide plenty of light-hearted banter amidst their ongoing trials against the supernatural Pennywise and their issues at home/school. The problems that each in the group experiences during the over 2 hours of run time are never really explored to any great detail so after a while, the skin deep quips start to lose their impact as we don't learn anything more about the kids other than what we get in their opening scenes.
Pennywise too begins to lose his impact as he appears in nearly every scene of the film during the 2nd and 3rd acts. Again, his antics are enough to hold your attention for most of the film but it becomes apparent pretty quickly that no one is in any real danger apart from the peripheral bully characters who, as it turns out are way too unlikable to care about anyway (even though they are still kids).
Make no mistake, this is not a kids movie or one which you should be taking your kids with you to go and see. The horror elements are pretty full on for a major studio release while the sound and score of the film adds to the terror moments with pretty good effect.
All in all its a decent enough film, but by no means is it one which will have you recalling characters names, memorable lines very long after you vacate the multiplex.