IT (2017) - When the art of adaptation goes very right

It (also known as It: Chapter One) is a supernatural horror movie directed by Andy Muschietti based on the 1986 Stephen King novel of the same name. The movie stars Bill Skarsgård, Jaeden Lieberher, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer, and Jackson Robert Scott and follows seven kids dubbed "The Losers Club" who find themselves haunted by a mysterious being called Pennywise the Dancing Clown.

The Characters

My biggest concern during this movie was that there would be too many characters. With seven different characters comprising the main cast (especially seven child actors), there were definite red flags in the movie. And while the movie doesn't pull it off 100%, it did do an overall excellent job with it. Not all the characters were given adequate screen time and a few felt unnecessary--mostly Mike (the black kid) and Stan (the Jewish kid). Of course, I understand that you really do need all the kids for this story, but I really can't help but feel that those two deserved more time to really show that they're a part of the gang.

On the bright side, all seven were excellent actors who gave solid performances, with my personal standouts being Jaeden Lieberher and Sophia Lillis. The writing for the kids was also excellent, allowing viewers to connect with the kids while having them talk like actual 13-year old boys. And while I was a little annoyed at all the dick length or "banging your mom" jokes that they constantly threw, it made me smile a bit because that's exactly how teenage boys talk. 

Pennywise the Dancing Clown--or "It"--is also a great presence in the film. Bill Skarsgård had huge shoes to fill since everyone will be comparing him to Tim Curry from the 1990 miniseries. Whether or not you like his performance is up to you, but I personally enjoyed it quite a bit. While Curry's It is more menacing, Skarsgård's is much creepier and gets under your skin. He almost always speaks with a strangely friendly and alluring voice, very much offset by his drooling. Comparing the scene between It and George from both the 1990 miniseries and the 2017 film, I think it's safe to say this new one is much better and more memorable. And his makeup and costume are very nice.

The Story

It really isn't that scary of a movie--if anything, it dials up the creepy factor up to 11 and there are only five or so genuinely scary moments (which isn't a bad thing by any means). I've heard a lot of people say the movie sucks because it wasn't even scary, and I think that's such a simple-minded thing to say. A horror movie sucks because it doesn't want to limit itself with cheap scares? It is a horror movie that instead wants to craft a great movie with interesting story and characters, and I think it does a fine job at it.

The central theme behind Stephen King's original 1100+ page book (which I'm now very tempted to read) is essentially childhood trauma and its effects on people. The main characters are all suffering from some form of abuse or fear and unite themselves in order to face that fear. Of course, the film took some liberties and made some changes from the book, and the most interesting change I found was the fears of some of the kids. 

Pennywise is able to manifest himself as each child's deepest fear, and the filmmakers decided to make sure each character's fear was an integral part of his/her character or to the movie's theme as a whole--loss of childhood innocence and the fear of growing up. Bill's fear is the ghost of his little brother, whose death marked Bill's loss of childhood innocence. Beverley's fear is a sink spouting out blood, indicative of menstrual blood and her physical changes from a girl into a woman. Richie's fear of clowns and Billy's fear of mummies could be attributed to their desire to cling onto their childhood. Eddie's leper and Mike's ghosts of his parents are all tied to their traumatic childhoods. Most interestingly, Stan's fear is a grotesque painting of a woman that he passes by every time he has to practice for his bar mitzvah, AKA a fearful painting he associates with the ritual of him becoming a man.

One of the only issues I found in the movie, however, was its slow pacing. The film has a five-act structure (unusual for what you'd see in most blockbuster movies), and unfortunately only the third and fifth (when they are actually trying to confront It) are exciting. I'm not saying the other parts are boring and I do quite like movies that can slow down and let you just enjoy the characters and get to know them more, but some parts of the movie just seemed slow to me. I also would have liked a couple more scares, but that's just me. 

Final Verdict

It 2017 is a worthy adaptation to Stephen King's novel, and is an enjoyable movie for people who look for more than just cheap scares. The characters are great and the story is a good one, albeit a bit slow. Needless to say, when Chapter Two comes out, I'll definitely be looking forward to it.

Grade: B