Summary:The town of Derry in 1989 is losing so many of its young people, that they've issued a curfew. Only one boy has done the research to learn this happens every 27 years. A group of "losers," the targets of local bullies, have banded together against their common enemies: said bullies and a clown called Pennywise, which each of them sees, one by one, next to their greatest fears.
The camaraderie is potent here. They band together. The cast may be a little too large to let each have a little more of their own distinctiveness. But in the end they are characterized enough.
Movie Comparison (spoilers implied):The first part of the TV series was effective as well, albeit more limited by budget, time, and special effects, but Tim Curry and the kids made this one work. In fact, even with the shorter screen time, the camaraderie of the first series is a little tighter. While inferior, some of the special effects were effective. Mostly they involved cut-aways that required the audience to fill in the gaps, but it also squeezed more out of space, squeezing victims and clowns into narrow drain pipes.
The movie version has only the kids appear, and they do get a stronger development. Most have their own unique and powerful experience with Pennywise, but Georgie and Beverly take best advantage of the increased screen time. Beverly especially becomes the bond that glues their group together in the new version. Pennywise, from the trailer, looks to be a stillborn failure, but Bill Skarsgård does a better job than his trailer displays. His coaxing of Georgie is terrifying, and the special effects push him further.
I've heard that seeing multiple screenwriters credited on a movie is supposed to be bad, but in the remake the writing works hard to push beyond what we saw in the TV series. It pushes boundaries and uncovers surprises. Even in the novel, Georgie is found dead. In the remake Georgie and all the disappeared are just that: gone, leaving the townspeople to worry over the disappearances But that opens a can of worms about why adults haven't been combing the countryside looking for the disappeared. Surely this town would be crawling with reporters from all over the country, and surely a majority of parents would be keeping their kids home.
The near finale image of the disappeared is quite haunting, giving a new sense to the movie's catch-phrase.
An interesting side-note is how the TV series goes back into 60s for its past while this movie goes back near to when the TV series was made for the movie's past.
The TV series dives into the mythos of Pennywise, if simply. The second does not although it sketches some of the history. The teaser trailer for the second half of the remake suggests that we will go into this, fingers crossed. I simply linked to the teaser trailer since it isn't very good, resting too heavily on heavy-handed horror and uses much footage from the first film.
Part Two (spoilers implied):The TV mini-series failed to live up to the promise of its first part. One wonders how the forthcoming movie sequel will fare. It almost seems impossible to deliver. These are, after all, childhood fears, for one. Since they are all adults, how can it have the same impact? Of course, some of our fears will carry into adulthood, but can they have the same power? The other problem is that they know how to defeat it. So how can the second movie do more than retread without the oomph?
We'll, have to wait until September 6, 2019 to find out if it can live up to its first half.
