Review of It (2017) by Michael D — 08 Sep 2017

This movie was better than I ever could have hoped for. The acting is beyond perfect, especially from Jaeden Lieberher, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, and, of course, Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise. After seeing the trailers and early clips, I thought I was prepared for how Pennywise was going to act. I was completely wrong. His actions are so sporadic and unexpected. If you watch the opening scene, you'll think that Pennywise is different, but still somewhat similar in personality to Tim Curry. Then, you start to see him a bit more. It still isn't too different, until you reach the basement scene. In an attempt to avoid giving too much away, I'll simply say that the trailers show nothing compared to what you see in that scene. Skarsgard's eyes make it even creepier. As the movie continues, the scenes continue to get better and better, until they wind it down at the very end with the kids no longer fearing It.

Now that the horror aspect is out of the way, there is a lot more to the movie. The story allowed space for the kids to actually grow up. It was not all about the scary scenes, the kids were able to just be themselves in parts. The best example is the quarry scene that we saw in the trailers. The kids are all just having fun, living their normal lives. It really gives the movie a "Stand by Me" feeling, which is also in the novel. Because of the R rating, the kids were also able to talk like kids would, with very immature comments at times allowing the serious scenes to have more of an impact. Richie Tozier, played by Finn Wolfhard, was one of the best examples of comic relief in recent years because he truly fit in and the comments made sense.

When I watched this movie the first time (I have seen it twice), I had a little bit of a problem with the end of the opening scene. It looked like it had too much CGI, but when I watched it again, it really started to grow on me.

All in all, this movie is my new all-time favorite, topping both "Stand By Me" and "The Shawshank Redemption." Anyone who has the opportunity should go see it. Anyone who has seen it should go back again. It's just as good the second time.