Decent, although very flawed

Rating: 4/10 (22 September 2017)

None of the kids can act! As I watched this I was thinking how bland they all were and thinking how strikingly different they are from the superb cast of Stranger Things.
The bad people are way, way over the top bad. Especially the bully gang and leader. This is small town America. I'm thinking where's the local police and then it turns out the kid's father is the local police and he's not tolerant of his sons behavior at all. So there's no way this kid and his fiends would be able to pull off what they're shown going around doing. The implication of course is his father being so strict made him into a raging psychopath. The characterization was all wrong.
I grew up knowing the local cops kids. They might have been jerks and acted like they're crap doesn't smell, but they also were expected to toe the line by their parent! A phone call to dad, this all goes away. For good and beyond.
It's a swimming marathon to get through. It's literally 40 minutes too long.
But the most damning thing...it's just not that scary! So you need something else..and it doesn't have anything else! Also I'd like to point out while they kinda sort of figure out why Pennywise is there, there's no explanation how a supremely powerful demonic being is taken out by a bunch of kids? I can think of about a billion ways Pennywise could have killed them all with zero effort. So no them growing courage wasn't satisfying at all. YOU KNOW HE'S NOT DEAD, AND COMING BACK FOR ROUNDS 2-15 The only CONCRETE thing we do know is they plan a sequel! You can't just fight a supremely powerful supernatural being into submission. There's gotta be...something.