A solid horror film, but also a mild disappointment after the first chapter.

Rating: 7/10 (6 September 2019)

I suppose it would be giving It Chapter Two too much credit to say that the magic sort of fading in this instalment reflects how adult life is less emotional/meaningful/magical than childhood.
Because yes, the endearing and thoroughly likeable kids from the first movie have grown up, and they're still likeable, but for whatever reason it just isn't quite the same. Pennywise doesn't really up his standards, and he more or less goes through the same motions he did in the first one, and now that he's targeting adults, he's just not as menacing as he was when he was terrorising the same people as kids.
Granted, I didn't find the first one hugely scary, and found it more satisfying as a Stand By Me-style coming of age film, but it was a bit more creepy the first time around because it was fresher and more surprising.
And with the cast being adults now (apart from some flashbacks), the nostalgia and whimsy and much of the emotion from the first has vanished (again- potentially a metaphor for the fact that growing up kinda sucks).
So after all those complaints... why still give it a positive score?
Well, the acting was all around quite good, the scary sequences were still fun (though really not frightening), it was really funny in parts, there were a couple of neat cameos, and despite being almost three hours, it moved along pretty nicely, and apart from some points in a somewhat repetitive second act, didn't really feel its length.
If you liked the first you'll like this one too, just probably not quite as much.