Pennywise is a murderous Halloween prank

Rating: 4/10 (24 September 2017)

A group of children face their fears in the truest form: Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Should I start out by saying I am a sensitive person? I don't usually do horror movies because even the most obvious jump scares make me, well, jump. I saw this movie because I'd seen it get good ratings and heard it wasn't that scary.
The movie opens with young Gerogie losing his boat in the sewers, thus bringing him to Pennywise. The first scare isn't bad. Actually rather lame, if I may say.
The movie centers around the Losers' Club: six boys and one girl brought together by their encounters with It (and the local bully.) It starts by terrorizing them with their greatest fear, then turning into the clown, played by Bill Skarsgard, Skarsgard did a good job of playing a disaster of a villain who's only fear aspect is that he just appears. It did the opposite of say, Jaws, in that it shows you the monster from the very beginning. But this isn't just any monster, no. It can transform, and it's mouth can get really big.
The movie does fall victim to, I don't want to say every horror trope, but it comes close. The kids follow things they shouldn't, split up, see dead people, etc. Something about the movie is that when ever you see a red balloon, It is near. The movie probably used this once or twice in blindingly obvious ways, but not every time? In my opinion, if you're going to go, go all the way. I get surprising the audience but if you've already established something you can't just push it aside and hope no one notices.
The young actors in the film, particularly Finn Wolfhard, were hilarious. The movie took breaks from its "horror" to have them make fun of each other in the way thirteen year old boys do. They're pretty well developed, and I say pretty because I've heard so much praise on that front but it can't quite reach.
The film repeats what it thinks works a lot. The blood (which I must say there wasn't as much as the average horror movie but like, still) was unnecessary and gratuitous. The friendship between the children is fun, and feels genuine, but they also try to force a romance between the one female characters and not one but two of the oddball misfits.
I guess I knew what I was getting into but I think the best parts of the movie are away form Pennywise, with the kids just joking, getting hurt when they can get better, throwing rocks and telling inappropriate jokes. To be honest that's the only reason I rated it this well at all. The ending, which was supposed to be satisfying in that telling the thing that feeds off their fears that they are no longer afraid unfortunately fell short.
The 80s aesthetic of it was, I guess, nice, and they had interesting cinematography when they weren't über focused in on the scary parts. The plot was thin and everything in the long run was pretty predictable.
Again, I feel like I have to say I am sensitive to horror movies. I was jumping and covering my eyes, but the second I left the theater, I was fine. Nothing about it stuck with me.