A Scary Movie For Those Under 12

Rating: 5/10 (18 September 2017)

The film starts with a terrific and scary opening scene, where a young boy chases his homemade paper boat down the street in the rain before losing it into a storm sewer. At that point, he encounters the creepy clown and the dialogue between them is tense and draws us in to the film immediately. The problem is the rest of the movie does not measure up to the opener. We're gradually introduced to the children who will be the targets for the evil in the balance of the film; however, so much time is spent on this setup the tense start to the movie is lost and it becomes disjointed. The kids do a good job overall and are believable in their roles, but they are left wandering around in a script gone wrong. The adults in the film are few and far between and are reduced to caricatures and stereotypes with no depth whatsoever. What's left then is simply a children's movie with swearing and some gore. "It" is entertaining in its own way, albeit is much longer than necessary; however, the film is not scary and does not measure up to the hype.