Don't take 'IT' so seriously.

Rating: 5/10 (9 September 2017)

Last night I went and saw the new 'IT' movie, and I thought it was decent. I didn't think it was anything great, but there was a lot about it that I admired and I over all enjoyed myself while watching it. However there was a lot about the movie that stuck out as obnoxious and in some cases cringe worthy. Hence why I think there is a lot to say about 'IT.'
We'll start off with the director, Andres Muschietti. The only other movie that I know he's directed other than 'IT' was Mama from 2013. A movie that really wasn't my thing, but there were aspects to that movie that I also found well directed even for a film I couldn't say I liked. So from what I've seen, he can direct very good moments in not so amazing horror movies. That's a good thing. Going into 'IT,' I thought to myself "well, at least it has the potential to be directed very well." In some ways it was. There are very memorable key scenes that really do the film justice. Now onto what was wrong with the direction. Andres will sometimes use CGI in his movies in places where I could easily look much better if it was done practically. Maybe that's more of a personal complaint I have with the movie, because there was a lot of instances where I thought it looked very poorly done with Pennywise being computer generated and it just looks bad. Not all of the CGI was done poorly, I'm just referring to scenes like the one where the kid is looking at a door and there's a bunch of hands flipping out around the openings of the door. Just stuff like that could have been done practically and it would've looked much nicer than a mediocre visual effect.
The last thing I want to address is the actors and their performances. Bill Skarsgård didn't really do much outstanding as Pennywise, but at no point did I feel his performance was lacking. He didn't really have enough screen time for me to judge. Which is fine. I wasn't expecting much. The child performances on the other hand were not so much all that good. Not to say it was because they couldn't act, I mean really, but I didn't think it was the actors to necessarily blame and more the script they were dealing with. One of the characters only exists to provide comic relieve. That's the level we're on. Most of it wasn't funny, and took me out of the movie. One of the characters has an abusive relationship and it was hilarious because it couldn't be taken seriously as well. All of the other performances only exist to provide standard clichés to a movie such as this one. Stereotypical bully anyone?
This next section is just a bunch of other small things positive and negative I feel like addressing. The atmosphere of the movie is pretty solid. It's pretty dark and moody and I think that's perfect. This along with the set design, make up, camera work, and sound design, is all pretty perfect. My main problems with the deliver lay within the beginning of the movie, and closer to the end. A lot of the delivery in these areas never comes off as creepy and instead is cornier and cringe worthy due to the acting and special effects. All of the scenes where Pennywise shows up he never feels threatening because it feels more like he's there to scare us as audience members with jump scares. Why not attack these children? Why even appear at all if you're not gonna kill these kids? Some scenes work better than others I guess.
In conclusion, I found 'IT' enjoyable in some respect, and it went by a lot faster than I would have thought. Whereas there were things alright about the movie, I never excused all the stuff I simply couldn't find enjoyment in. If I was with a bunch of friends and we were just scrolling through Netflix until we scroll past 'IT,' I'd be down. Keep in mind I never said this movie was bad. I just said it was average, and I had a few short things to say. Enjoy the movie all you want, and don't let me stop you from doing so. After all, we're talking about a horror movie that shouldn't require the need to be taken all too seriously. Still won't excuse it from criticism. I'm feeling a decent to strong 5 out of 10.