An Interesting Take on a Familiar Story

Rating: 8/10 (8 September 2017)

First of all, in order to enjoy this movie you must go in it with an open mind, because it is not a remake of the original film and it is a very loose interpretation of the book.
Stephen King books in general have faced a lot of difficulty translating to film. Whether it is his attention to detail which gets completely lost on film, or his bizarre elements that become almost ludicrous when seen on the big screen. It is difficult to capture the 'essence' of his books on a movie. And the SK essence is something that this film captures beautifully.
This new version of It is interesting to say the least (and I mean that as a compliment). The writers and director took a totally different approach to the film, which in many times works and in others it doesn't. On a positive note, the actors in the movie did an excellent job. Every single one of the children showed a wonderful portrayal of their character, but I have to call out Sophia Lillis for being probably the strongest actor in the movie and Jack Grazer who is most definitely the star in the film. His portrayal of Eddie was funny, smart, endearing and had you rooting for him the entire movie. Another strong point of the movie is the new direction they took in tone. It made the film relevant, hip and unexpected in many cases.
I had 2 issues with the movie, the first being the overuse of CGI. I think we could have used less of it because in many ways it detracts from the horror elements. And my second issue, and probably the biggest one was the portrayal of the Bowers's gang. They play what are some of the most important elements to the book, yet in this movie we could have removed altogether and it wouldn't have impacted the story in any way.
Overall, an interesting and good interpretation which captures the real Stephen King essence. Yet, I would still like to see a mini- series which does the book justice and follows the original story.