IT

Year: 2017
Director: Andy Muschietti
@the movies

You've probably been reading a lot about the new IT movie as it has recently come out, and the original 1990 movie is a fan favorite. People have been weighing in left and right. Is it better than the original... The same... Worse? I guess it is my turn to throw my two cents into the well (*wink*) albeit briefly.

I had a little trouble getting used to the new characters at first. I couldn't remember who was who! Thankfully it didn't take too long or I would have been lost. I did lose track of who had seen the clown throughout the movie though. The last to see Pennywise in this movie is Richie and the last to see it in the 1990 version is Stan.

My brother's biggest problem with this movie (without having watched it) is that Pennywise looks too scary. Pennywise is a clown in order to lure children, he argues, and what child would willingly approach the new Pennywise? I did wonder how the new film would get around this, and they apparently circumvented this problem by rarely having him use his clown persona as a lure at all. In fact, the only time he does so is when he speaks to Georgie at the very beginning of the movie. Other than that, he only appears as the clown after scaring the crap out of the children.

This version has the side antagonist Henry Bowers and his friends being slightly older than the young protagonists. I liked that it was more clear than in the old one where the teacher merely ask how many years he would be in her class. They delved lightly into the sad home life of Henry this go round,and honestly, I'm not sure that we needed it. Why? Do you need to evoke pity for a character that is so sadistic and mean that nothing can really redeem him? Not in my opinion. Henry's character is just a mean fuck, and sometimes that's okay. We don't need to delve into his depths. He has a purpose in the story, and he can do that without a backstory. The only thing I'm questioning in this movie is his fate, which is somehow anticlimactic. Kind of didn't need Henry at all.

This movie was chock full of scares where the 1990 movie was full of more story, because of the way it was laid out going back and forth from past to present.

Overall, I really enjoyed this movie as much as the original version, just for different reasons. Loved the new scares, loved that there were so many of them, loved the characters, and loved Pennywise. I did think the children battling pennywise was a little haphazard, but they are kids afterall.

On a final note, this movie was so similar to the 1990 movie at times and at other times so different that it leaves me wondering what the real story is. I bought the book and you can be certain that I am going to find out!