For my own, I really enjoyed the first movie, and was really looking forward to this one. And having seen it on its opening weekend, what do I think? It was... not the first.
I did not read the book (its a LONG haul), so I can't speak for its faithfulness aside from what I've heard through here-say. I also have not see the mini-series. But that said, I have read some synopses of the story, so I understand how the plot goes. With that said, in its apparent desire to be faithful, it also incorporated the weaker aspects of the story as well. Its hard to go into those weaker aspects without going into spoilers, but if you're familiar with the original, you may have an idea of what I'm talking about. These elements definitely draw a lot of the fear and tension out of the scene.
In regards to the horror side of things, with the exception of a few scenes, I honestly wasn't that scared; you can tell when a jump scare is building, and while it works sometimes, most of the time it doesn't. That might be a least partially an age of thing; I think as viewers we will be naturally inclined to be less fearful for adults than children. But in this, a lot of the scares don't really hit home for me.
But I still think there is a lot of good in the movie as well. For me at least, the best part of both movies was the bonds between the Loser's Club. While the adults don't have the same amount of chemistry the kids did, they still have (at least for me) enough of those bonds and connections to make me care about them.
The plot also held my attention, and I was definitely curious to see how it would go, which I guess one could argue is the most important part. I know some might be dissatisfied with how the story takes some of the mystery about what IT is, but I'd make the argument that the intention was for people to learn about IT, and for me at least, I was interested to learn more about IT's nature. Though that might be more of a personal taste than anything else.
The performances are still spot on, and its almost eerie how much the adults look like their young counterparts; all the Losers managed to capture the similar personality and traits of their counterparts, and I was always invested in them. Bill Skarsgard still give commands the same same presence he did in the last movie, and is probably my other favorite part.
So, was I scared? Not really. Was I entertained? Certainly.
Good, but far from the first.
For my own, I really enjoyed the first movie, and was really looking forward to this one. And having seen it on its opening weekend, what do I think? It was... not the first.
I did not read the book (its a LONG haul), so I can't speak for its faithfulness aside from what I've heard through here-say. I also have not see the mini-series. But that said, I have read some synopses of the story, so I understand how the plot goes. With that said, in its apparent desire to be faithful, it also incorporated the weaker aspects of the story as well. Its hard to go into those weaker aspects without going into spoilers, but if you're familiar with the original, you may have an idea of what I'm talking about. These elements definitely draw a lot of the fear and tension out of the scene.
In regards to the horror side of things, with the exception of a few scenes, I honestly wasn't that scared; you can tell when a jump scare is building, and while it works sometimes, most of the time it doesn't. That might be a least partially an age of thing; I think as viewers we will be naturally inclined to be less fearful for adults than children. But in this, a lot of the scares don't really hit home for me.
But I still think there is a lot of good in the movie as well. For me at least, the best part of both movies was the bonds between the Loser's Club. While the adults don't have the same amount of chemistry the kids did, they still have (at least for me) enough of those bonds and connections to make me care about them.
The plot also held my attention, and I was definitely curious to see how it would go, which I guess one could argue is the most important part. I know some might be dissatisfied with how the story takes some of the mystery about what IT is, but I'd make the argument that the intention was for people to learn about IT, and for me at least, I was interested to learn more about IT's nature. Though that might be more of a personal taste than anything else.
The performances are still spot on, and its almost eerie how much the adults look like their young counterparts; all the Losers managed to capture the similar personality and traits of their counterparts, and I was always invested in them. Bill Skarsgard still give commands the same same presence he did in the last movie, and is probably my other favorite part.
So, was I scared? Not really. Was I entertained? Certainly.