Perfect Casting and Kudos to Bill Hader & Finn Wolfhard!

Rating: 10/10 (16 September 2019)

Simply put, IT Chapter Two was beautiful and I loved it. I laughed. I jumped. I screamed. I cried. (Six times to be exact, but who's counting? I mean how can you not cry during a movie when little kids are dying?)
The film was so well cast. I can see every single one of the kid losers in the adult losers, whether it's a certain feature or mannerism, what have you, and I can tell that the adult actors took great care to watch the first film and study their younger counterparts in order to make the performances as successful as possible.
Bill Hader's performance as Richie was brilliant, hilarious, and moving, and he stole the whole movie. (I felt the same way about Finn Wolfhard in the first film.) James Ransone's Eddie was spot on; his timing was impeccable and I loved how often he incorporated lines that kid Eddie used in the first film. (I wonder how much of that was scripted or improv.) James McAvoy's performance as Bill was also very moving, as was Andy Bean's very short lived performance as Stan. EVERYONE WAS FANTASTIC, but those guys were definitely my personal favorites.
As a huge Finn Wolfhard (Young Richie) fan and supporter, I was very proud of his performance. It was nice to see Richie dealing with an intricate emotional issue while still being right in the middle of the action and also maintaining his fun banter with Eddie. (This was true of both young and adult Richie.) I was also really impressed with Wyatt Oleff (Young Stanley) and Jaeden Martell's (Young Bill) performances. They were involved in two scenes that definitely gave me some good jumps and screams, especially Wyatt. If you haven't seen it yet, you'll know when you do. He was BRILLIANT!
Andy Muschietti was as true to the book as he could possibly be, while also writing in some creative liberties. Some of the liberties incorporated aspects from the book that couldn't be told in full detail, and some were completely created by him. Richie's story-line was hard for me to accept just due to the simple fact that it was not in either the book or the original miniseries from 1990, and I really didn't get that vibe from the 2017 film either. However, I felt it was very beautifully portrayed, and I'm not ignorant enough not to realize that this is ANDY's movie, BASED on Stephen King's novel.
People are always quick to say, "I liked the movie, but the book was better." Films based on movies are just that; based on them. They are never the same. And I am a person who loves the movie if I loved the book. Always! IT Chapter Two was no different. I loved it from start to finish. Well done to everyone involved!