Pretty Good, That's the Best Way to Describe It

Rating: 7/10 (26 February 2018)

I'm not a usual horror movie viewer, but upon seeing the trailers for the It remake, I knew I was going to see it. It looked like a genuinely good movie that used horror in a supportive and smart way aside from jump scares with no plot. And once I saw it, it more or less confirmed my thoughts. Though there are pros and cons to every movie.
So, the pros. It was extremely well made. The setting was warm in an 80's way, though vibrant when dealing with Pennywise which played in the fact that he was, you know, a clown. The acting was surprisingly great on all accounts, which is always a tedious expectation with large child casts. The effects were amazing and all the utterly skin crawling fear sequences looked so realistic, which added to the creep factor. There was plenty of memorable cinematography, so many shots will stick with me, like Georgie's arm scene, Ben being chased by a headless boy, and the kids jumping off the cliff into the water are some that come to mind. And the suspense was masterfully presented which had me not at the edge of my seat in anticipation, but curled into a ball trying (and failing) to hide my face in fear.
As for the cons, they weren't so glaring that it added up to a bad experience, they were more or less just some parts that were a bit obvious in comparison to the greatness of the rest of the movie. One was the fact that some kids were one note, which could have been the writing in the book. It was like this for most of the group that weren't Bill and Beverly. I also wished they balanced the responsibilities between the group so all of the members of the Losers Club really felt needed. This includes having a different member of the Losers Club being taken by Pennywise to bring them together in the third act because Beverly definitely wasn't the damsel in distress type. I wish the kids' fear sequences were shown in a different way than one right after the other. I don't know if it was my expectations of the movie going in, but I felt they could've been presented more creatively. Some of the CGI with Pennywise was unnecessary, and I would've liked to see Bill Skarsgard do his thing with the character more, because he was the best part. I wish they showed the kids maybe spit firing some ideas on how Pennywise came to be, but I bet they'll touch up on his origin in part two. And lastly, the clanging jump scares. I thought the movie was above them, and would've been truly special if it also expanded its horizons with some silent or creepy quiet moments. Also, Bev was most certainly not a damsel in distress so having her as one the boys had to band together to save was out of character.
Overall, great movie that I'm so glad I saw, and will see again, despite it being extremely and awesomely freaky.