What, is, It? It's It! What is It?

Rating: 7/10 (15 March 2018)

The second adaptation of Stephen Kings' epic-length novel tells the story of seven put-upon pre-teens, living in a small American town called Derry. In the summer of 1989, they discover that all of the towns' children are in danger of being devoured by an ancient, vile entity residing deep underground. Most often, it takes the form of a clown named Pennywise (Bill Skarsgard), but can assume the shape of anything that its victims fear the most. These seven kids band together in the hope that they can vanquish this monster.
As a fan of the novel who's read it cover to cover a few times, what takes some time getting used to is the fact that Kings' often very specific details and time frames are altered for the current tale being spun. Also, very little of the dialogue from the novel is left intact. Still, the filmmakers, led by director Andy Muschietti ("Mama") do get some things right - visually the film does play like images and pages from the novel come to life. The "Barrens", in particular, look much how I imagined them when reading the novel.
Compared to the first adaptation, the TV miniseries back in 1990, this is often more genuinely creepy, and that's a word that may recur to the viewer while watching this. While there is some faithfulness to the source material (the house on Neibolt Street, the leper, etc.), the filmmakers do make up some of their own stuff, such as a painting that understandably freaks out Stan (Wyatt Oleff). In contrast to original Pennywise Tim Curry, who alternated between truly goofy shtick and being a monster, Skarsgard is pretty much just plain Evil.
The film is definitely well cast overall, though. As befitting a variation on a King work, the strongest asset is the young cast, their appeal as characters and their camaraderie. Sophia Lillis is a standout as Beverly, the strongest member of the group. This young lady is definitely going places. Finn Wolfhard of the Netflix series 'Stranger Things' has some amusing lines playing Richie, the comic relief of the group. Unfortunately, Stan and Mike (Chosen Jacobs) don't get that much to do. By making Ben (Jeremy Ray Taylor) the newcomer to town who is obsessed with its history, the film robs Mike of his most potent defining characteristic.
All in all, the film tells an entertaining story in capable enough fashion, although it would be true that it doesn't have an exorbitant amount of tension, and sometimes gets by on usage of jump scares.
It's a mixed bag, with a rather underwhelming finale, but it does work a fair amount of the time.
Regarding the 1990 version, it tended to go downhill when it told part two with the Losers as adults, and one wonders if the sequel to this will suffer the same fate. Time will tell.
Seven out of 10.