IT Is A Stephen Kings Adaptation That Actually Manages To Float

       As the summer of 2017 has drawn to a close, the fall season of 2017 has opened up and off to a great start with the much anticipated and highly satisfying adaptation of Stephen Kings classic book titled IT as well as the 1990 TV miniseries.

      Doing a modern upgrade of the popular miniseries was no easy task as high expectations were placed upon the production from the moment it was announced up until the first trailer released to record breaking views on You Tube. Living up to the miniseries was not as difficult of a task as living up to Tim Curry's iconic performance as Pennywise The Clown. The original miniseries for all intents and purposes, was successful despite not being that great when you look at the film outside of Curry's killer performance. The problem was not that it was an unfaithful adaptation of the classic book, but rather that it was bound to the limitations of it being a television movie. While the original film contained what was a generally creepy atmosphere, it didn't live up to its full potential in terms of scaring its audience. With the newest version of the classic story, the 2017 adaptation is not only creepy to the core, but is scarier in regards to leaving its audience both thrilled and genuinely disturbed by the nature of the story. The synopsis for the newer IT is virtually the same as the original with the main difference being this version of the story focuses on the young group of misfit friends being terrified by a killer demonic clown named Pennywise in the year 1989. Whereas the original miniseries had a running time of three hours and focused on the young group of friends both in their youth and later reuniting as adults to combat Pennywise again, the new IT focuses on the childhood aspect of the story with the adult perspective of the young kids being saved for chapter two that's due in theaters in September 2019. 

      As far as authenticity goes, IT has the look of the original miniseries while feeling like a similar film to Stand By Me, with a horror ring to it. Each scene feels like a page of Stephen Kings book brought to life with great love and care taken with the characters, the story, and setting with the Art-Set Decoration feeling nothing short of absolute perfection. The jump scares are effective and well-staged and the use of Pennywise is very much done in the same form of the shark appearing in Jaws, where he appears to scare the audience momentarily, then reverts back into the shadows to wait for his next moment to terrify the young actors. As far as acting performances go, the young kids playing the main characters are simply amazing, as they bring total believability to their roles as young friends coming together to fight an evil force, while having their relationships being shaped and molded because of it. The best acting out of the group comes from Jaeden Lieberher as Bill Denbrough, Jeremy Ray Taylor as Ben, and Sophia Lillis as Beverly providing a strong trio making both their friendship as well as romantic triangle totally believable and compelling to audiences with Finn Wolfhard and Chosen Jacobs giving strong supporting performances. IT never becomes a question of which child actor delivered the worst acting job as everyone of them played their part to the T and appeared to be having a blast owning their roles.

       With the child actors proving their skills and demonstrating promising acting careers, it all comes down to how Bill Skarsgard did as Pennywise the clown. Living up to the bar that Tim Curry set is no easy task as his performance is considered to be iconic, particularly his opening scene in which he traumatizes young Georgie. Such a terrifying yet brilliantly staged sequence is flawlessly executed in the remake with Skarsgard delivering a chilling performance in that scene with the outcome being more brutal in the theatrical version. With both Skarsgard and Curry's performances, audiences shouldn't compare the two nor say that one performance is better than the other as both actors turn in terrific performances with Skarsgard beating the odds and living up to the characters legacy Curry started. Skarsgard's role isn't as big as Curry's in the miniseries since this version strictly focuses on the perspective of the kids, but the newer version keeps his part limited and only utilizes Pennywise when the moment calls for his presence, making his character creepier when he isn't overexposed. Going into the making of the 2017 version, the movies success relied much on the casting of not just the young childhood actors but also the performance of Pennywise. With Skarsgard, he gives audiences a villain that they both fear and take delight in knowing he will be back with chapter 2.

      What's more impressive than IT actually turning out to be a very good horror movie, lis how big of a box office and cultural phenomenon it's become since it's release. As of the writing of this review, IT 2017 has made 316 million domestically, placing it as one of the biggest R rated movies of all time as well as the biggest horror movie ever made. The films outstanding success has exceeded every expectation placed upon it not just as a box office juggernaut that's become a pop culture phenomenon but also as a horror movie. IT may not be scary to every single person who watches it, but those who don't find it scary can certainly praise it for the amazing acting from the main cast as well as it's high quality production values. IT is a crowd pleasing and well-structured horror movie, that does the utmost justice to the miniseries that came before it while updating it for modern audiences. The new adaptation of IT feels different from typical horror movies as it not only has the creep factor to maximum effect, but its also full of heart thanks to the young actors. IT not only works as a very good horror film mixed with Stand By Me, The Goonies, and Super 8, but it also stands as being one of the best films of the year. The movie is worthy of having Oscar nominaions for Best Screenplay, Best Make up, and Best Art-Set Decoration as the film is not only has an authentic feel to it but literally brings Stephen King's classic book to life. Director Andy Muschietti not only lived up to the challenge of topping the popular TV miniseries, but also managed to stake a claim in the history books with the films record breaking performance. Every so often a film comes along that manages to surprise audiences not just with it's quality, but how it manages to get the audience invested with it's story, IT is one of the rare occurrences where the film lives up to the hype and is every bit as satisfying as audiences expect it to be.

Final Verdict: SEE IT