It's not great...

Rating: 5/10 (24 September 2019)

Although the original novel is one of King's most celebrated and iconic, it really isn't anywhere near his best work. Featuring some of the authors most cornball horror elements and a baggy, unfocused narrative that strays into juvenile sci-fi at times, for me It is one of King's weaker novels overall.
So it's a shame that, with this sequel, the director has failed to marshall the more interesting elements of the source into an effective film. It is overlong, tonally jarring and many of the repetitive scares are like something from a kids TV show - I'm really surprised more hasn't been written about that.
I can't deny the calibre of the cast - these are all good actors - but they never play to their strengths, with the exception of James Ransone and Bill Hader, and the adult ensemble fail to gel in the way their young counterparts did in the first film. Between some toe-curling overacting from James McAvoy and Jay Ryan's total charisma vacuum, there isn't much to write home about. There are also big problems with the script and it is ultimately way too long, unfocussed and grossly sentimental.
There are some nice elements here and there and I get that Muschietti harbours a great love for the material but this really is an unexceptional film. I find the gushing, positive reviews completely confounding. 5.5/10