Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!
Plot Summary: Seven kids made a promise to reunite one day if they failed to kill a supernatural entity. Now, 30 years later, IT is back!
Review: Technically "It" is a miniseries, but who the hell is going to put up with an hour+ of commercials these days?! Nah...I simply view this as one long ass movie and so should you. However, I do find myself usually watching just the first half and saying bye bye once the second half begins. Realistically, the heart of the story lies with the children and how they cope with It and his many forms. The adult portion is boring and the acting is significantly weaker. As for how this rendition compares to the book...it does faithfully stick to the main story beats yet everything is watered down; it's like the PG-13 version of the book's events minus the sci-fi elements like Maturin and the idea that It came from space (sorta). I'm okay with these changes, because, well, did anyone really expect we'd see 12 year old Bevy fuck 6 boys in a sewer?! On a side note to this, it's annoying in the movie when Eddie says he's a virgin, because I'm like, "Uh, did you also forget the time you fucked Bev?" Okay, this shit's getting out of hand.
Part 1: This is where the real meat and potatoes of the story is at. In fact, this IS the story. I know...who am I to question Stevie King, but, seriously, this is what the book should have only been about. The idea of the kids fighting against It--this nightmarish entity that is every fear come to life-- all the while taking place in the '50s is utterly amazing. On the other hand, a bunch of borderline-senile yuppies in the '80s trying to take on It is lackluster. Anyway, yes, the portion dealing with the kids is awesome as they slowly come together as a group--The Loser's Club--and we see the ways It messes with them mostly in the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Obviously everyone remembers Tim Curry's over the top performance as Pennywise since it pretty much freaked out the entire '90s generation. The whole clown image achieved what Mr. King was striving for, tapping into some kind of innate fear that clowns emit while simultaneously amusing children. The film successfully projects this fear through Mr. Curry's performance; though, it's important to know that the scares are light throughout the film.
The child actors are surprisingly great, easily outshining their adult counterparts. While some are better than others, their fear felt believable as well as their bond of friendship feeling strong. Watching the kids try to grasp what It is and how to possibly overcome him is cool to see; it's understandable why they would drop It's cosmic origins in order to establish a more magical, supernatural creature for simplicity's sake. The best aspect--though not emphasized enough in my opinion--is that It can only be hurt and killed because the kids believe it's possible. In It's true form, the deadlights, it cannot feasibly be hurt let alone killed especially in a physical confrontation. But because It takes on a physical form to scare and eat kids, he actually opens himself up to defeat and possibly death due to his own arrogance. This is why the kid portion just works...the childlike innocence and untapped, fantastical imagination makes their approach to the situation engaging and It's use of movie monsters, and other creatures against them, terrifying. At the end, once they believe It is dead, the promise between them is a powerful scene and where things should close out. Maybe it's just me, but when this half ends I can easily turn the DVD off and have peace of mind.
Part 2: Okay, so I don't completely hate this portion, but it lacks the magic present in the first half. The characters have grown up to be bland cliches, and their lack of belief in what's happening gets old FAST. The Pennywise form barely appears, and you begin to notice plot inconsistencies that are bothersome. For instance, why can't It just fucking kill the Loser's Club?! It is shown to have the ability to kill adults who don't even believe in him. Likewise, It is shown killing a bunch of other kids yet couldn't seal the deal with them. And why didn't It just let the Bowers gang kill the kids? I suppose you could argue he wanted to eat the kids or kill them personally, but, goddamn, that was dumb as fuck considering It helps the Bowers gang a few times.
I think what bugs me about this half is that only about a day passes in the story whereas the first half is over the course of months--giving time to flesh out the characters. We don't get a handle on these guys which is not helped by terrible bouts of acting from the likes of Bevy for example; you gotta laugh at her dialogue when trying to say "why is It so mean?" Basically, the characters come back to town, remember a little, and rush off into the sewer with virtually no game plan of killing It permanently. Meanwhile, It is being a little bitch and can't do shit except say "turn back before it's too late" as if that isn't completely advertising "I'm a scaredy little bitch." Then what is this big final battle building toward? The worst-looking giant spider ever. Not to mention, if you saw this on TV, you spent nearly 4 hours building up to It dying within a couple minutes to pretty much nothing. What is the point of being a giant spider if you can't do shit? And after that weak defeat, we get a quick wrap up of the characters and B-B-B-Billy-boy gets his wife back. The end. There just wasn't any passion for the storytelling or something.
Overall, you're getting two, completely different tonal experiences. The first half is a coming of age story with childlike innocence pitted against fear manifested into reality. The second half is about a bunch of conveniently successful, middle-aged crybabies who refuse to accept the situation and drag their feet until they stumble upon a big spider. As a whole, things do work quite well, yet the first half better captures what the book was trying to convey. More to the point, the first half is the crux of the story and where the real heart is at. The commercial break points are annoying, however, the production value and use of dark atmosphere is admirable given this was TV of 1990. The original "It" is certainly worth a viewing, but it's best to understand the shortcomings and realize that the scare-factor has been greatly exaggerated by those, seemingly, traumatized by clowns after their initial viewing. Still, you can't deny that this film is quite quotable one way or another.
Notable Moment: When Bill is looking at the picture album and Georgie's photo winks and begins to ooze blood. Probably the best scare in the movie and the music accompanying this scene is great.
Final Rating: Part 1 - 7.5/10
Part 2 - 5.5/10
Overall - 6.5/10
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