Since seeing the new IT movie over the weekend I’ve been debating on whether or not to review it. It’s not that I don’t want to talk about it but it’s just I know that EVERYBODY is going to be putting out reviews. However, I decided that one more review about this movie wouldn’t hurt. This isn’t going to be anything in depth because I feel like I need to watch it again to really decide how I feel and I would also like to do a comparison between the new movie, the 1990 mini series and the book (hopefully that will happen next month). I’m going to break this down into different sections to make it easier to discuss instead of talking about it all in one chunk. This will have SPOILERS.

 

Pennywise

The new, and possibly improved, Pennywise is played by Bill Skarsgard. First thing that must be said is I feel like Skarsgard did a phenomenal job bringing Pennywise to life. He portrayed the character in a totally different way than Tim Curry’s Pennywise in 1990. I say different not better because I really love both. There seems to be a war going on on the internet right now where you have to choose between them, but why? You can enjoy Curry’s Pennywise and Skarsgard’s Pennywise as just different interpretations of the same delightfully disturbed character. Curry’s Pennywise was portrayed as a human in a clown suit. He was able to get children to trust him because he looked like an average clown. He was funny; even when threatening the children he’s typically laughing and seems to be having a wonderful time. Skarsgard’s Pennywise always seems threatening and non-human. Even when he’s talking to the children (mainly the Georgie scene) in this adorable, almost lisping, voice there’s still something there that makes you uncomfortable. Georgie was able to pick up on the danger very quickly and after that Pennywise doesn’t even bother with trying to trick the other kids. He just spends all his time tormenting them. This new Pennywise just seems more dangerous and like I said earlier, he just makes you uncomfortable. For example, when he’s talking to Georgie from the drain and starts to drool then just goes slack jawed and stares off with a blank look before “snapping back” into focusing on Georgie just makes me shiver. You know that he’s predator and to me that’s what was so different from Curry’s Pennywise.

 

The Loser’s Club

I absolutely loved all the kids in the Loser’s Club. These actors and actress did a fantastic job and they’re honestly what I pictured while reading the book. They just seemed like “real” kids, from the banter between them to how they dealt with issues. I don’t see how anybody that has read the book couldn’t think these kids were just perfect, only my opinion of course. I’m really looking forward to seeing what adult actors and actress they get to portray these kids in part two.

 

Henry Bower’s and His Gang

Just like with the Loser’s Club I loved the guys they chose for the bullies. I felt like they were perfectly cast, especially Henry. They were scary and menacing. My only complaint with them is I wish we could have seen more of them, especially Patrick Hockstetter. In the book Patrick is a deeply disturbed and evil character but in the movie he just doesn’t have much of a part and is killed off pretty early on. Which, I mean, this is already a two and a half hour long movie so they couldn’t really get into every side character’s back story but it would’ve been great to have a litte more on him.

 

The Movie in General

Overall, I really liked this movie. They did change some major details and left other details out but no movie is ever as good as the book. I definitely think it’s as good, if not better, than the mini series but nobody can say that for sure until part two comes out in a few years. It told the story well, had great actors and actresses, creeped me out and made me jump; what more could I want?

If you haven’t seen this movie I really think you should. As a reader, I think you should read the book first but I think it would still be a good movie even without reading the book. If you have seen the movie let me know what you thought about it! Thank you for reading and have a great day!

* I’ve also reviewed the book so just follow that link to see my thoughts and how it compares to the movie!