I really wanted to love it. But it was a disappointment.

Rating: 5/10 (12 July 2018)

Perhaps I'm just too old and cynical for this film, but it didn't grab me at all. My mind kept wandering throughout, which is almost unheard of for me, and I was continually distracted by my own internal monologue carping on about overuse of cat-scares, clichés, and unsubtle music. I just couldn't stop analysing it, rather than being sucked-in and captivated - as I was with the Tim Curry version.
And there it is: the unavoidable comparison. I was totally 100% committed to enjoying this film on its own terms, and determined to avoid comparing. I loved the idea of a remake, and was ready to fully embrace any changes that they made. I just didn't expect it to be so blah. And as a result, against all my inclinations, I couldn't stop comparing. So here goes...
Tim Curry was a better Pennywise, in my opinion, but not by much. I kind of loved what Bill Skarsgard did with the role, and I was very happy with his look. I just felt that Curry had more depth and variation, not to mention humour - which doesn't make him any less creepy.
I really connected with the kids in the Curry version. They were far better drawn, had more distinct characters, and gave better and more natural performances. The kids in the remake were okay, and could have been much improved with more coaching and better direction. But they were poorly introduced as characters, and never really made their marks as individuals. so I didn't connect with them at all, with the slight exception of Beverly, who had far more depth and range as a young actress. They also had appalling diction - something that could have been easily fixed with coaching and stronger directing, but the words tumbled carelessly out of their mouths in superfast succession, making it hard to understand what they were saying. As a group they also seemed to lack the chemistry of the kids from the earlier version.
Visually it was stunning. Far better in places than the earlier version. But by the end I was bored with the visual style, especially the endless Tim Burton-esq nightmare-gloom-chiq, and was grateful to return to sunlight.
The music, as I mentioned before, was heavy-handed and unsubtle, as was the use of CGI, which became almost as annoying and distracting as the terrible stop-motion spider from the earlier version. Music and visual effects - especially in horror films - work best when used minimally and subconsciously. Psychological horror is far scarier when it's suggested, rather than waved in front of your face yelling "BE SCARED!"
But the main reason that this remake is inferior to the original TV miniseries is that it fails to present the two timelines. The original version gave us both timelines, at worst viewed 24 hours apart, although on video and DVD they played as a continuous film. This allowed the viewer to connect with the kids, go through the experience with them, and then reconnect with them as adults and experience a whole bundle of nostalgia and mixed emotions that added many layers of depth to the storytelling and tension to the viewing experience. It had fantastic unity, and made each of the two halves seem fuller because they were filmed and presented as a whole.
With the remake and it's sequel/second half being separated by two or more years, all sense of continuity is lost. Even if viewed back-to-back on disc, they are still two entirely separate films, shot years apart, and possibly by different key crew members. If both chapters of the remake had been shot together, it would have been better (and I would have waited to view them as one single film) but the way they've done it just diminishes each of the two parts.
Chapter one failed to grab me for many reasons, but mostly, I think, because it was only half of the story and as such was half as good and infinitely less engaging.