Could have been better

Rating: 7/10 (6 September 2019)

Disclaimer: I haven't read the book, so I'm only speaking from the perspective of someone who saw It: Chapter One in 2017 and really loved it.
I might have set my expectations too high, but with a movie as outstanding as the first one, I couldn't help but do so. And, unfortunately, that led me to some sort of disappointment. The cinematography isn't as great (although we still get to see some beautiful shots, don't get me wrong), and the storyline isn't very consistent. For most part of the movie, we follow them trying to remember what happened 27 years ago (or just trying to find their artifacts maybe?), but that's mostly a pretext for us to see the many forms Pennywise can take to scare them. The narrative with the ritual that Mike tells them about felt to me like a cheap excuse to justify defeating IT (and thank god, that's not what actually worked). It's just we spend so much time on an idea that isn't grand, nor original. The last half hour of the movie is when stuff finally starts to go down, and it was definitely the most exciting part of the film.
There's also lots of good elements, though. The acting is top notch, the cast itself is fantastic. We get a couple of brilliant scenes from Bill Skarsgard, like that scene with the little girl at the baseball game. I only wish we got to see him act more (as in the first movie, they rely more on cgi and jump scares to creep the audience out). I also enjoyed the dialogue and the character arcs we got to see.
There is a lot of effort put into this movie. It's definitely worth watching if you loved the first one. However, it doesn't hit the potential it had. Judging by how they nailed the first movie, I personally think they could've done Chapter Two better.