exciting although surprisingly un-scary

Rating: 8/10 (29 August 2019)

Like the miniseries Stranger Things, It hearkens back to 80s filmmaking, falling somewhere between Stand By Me and Poltergeist. While ostensibly a horror movie, in spirit it is more a coming-of-age drama with a monster.
The movie is not particularly scary, even by Poltergeist standards, but it is quite exciting, particularly in the final, thrilling confrontation. The movie also does a lovely job of reminding us that not all evil dwells in the sewer, with some of the most disturbing scenes being purely human; I was ultimately more scared of Bev's father than of Pennywise.
The kid's are all excellent. I like how little they fit to typical stereotypes; the stuttering kid is the brave one, the kid with glasses is a sex hound rather than a nerd, and the chubby kid is a scholar.
I don't have strong feelings about Pennywise. He is probably most effective in that first disturbing scene, but unfortunately I had already seen the SNL/Kellyanne Conway parody of that scene which was so dead-on that it impacted how seriously I could take the movie Pennywise (it's not the movie's fault, of course, that Kate MacKinnon captured the role so well). The actor doesn't have as strong a personality as Tim Curry did in the previous version of It, and ultimately seems like more a vehicle for evil rather than a distinct character.