I had not read the novel and in fact, I had not read any reviews of this movie so I went into this thing with a surprising lack of fore knowledge of what might be in store.
Our story takes place in 1955 in New Zebedee, Michigan. (Michigan: where horror goes to live and where magic goes to die!). 10 year old Lewis Barnavelt, newly minted orphan, arrives in town to live with his uncle Jonathan who has zero in the way of parenting skills. He wonders why have cookies after dinner when you can have cookies for dinner? Jonathan lives in a creaky old house with the prerequisite spooky accouterments of aged furniture, cobwebbed drapes and dusty books. There is also (and this is not a spoiler, it’s there in the title) a clock in the walls of the house. The clock was put there by the previous residents of the house, Isaac and Selena Izard, a clock that can bring about (cue ominous music) the end of the world.
Lewis
feels the world has already ended. He misses his parents, his uncle is weird,
the house he lives in is weirder still and he’s stuck in a new school where all
the kids got the memo to make sure his life sucks. Except for this one boy
named Tarby who’s running for class president and actually shows kindness to
Lewis. Except Tarby isn't really who Lewis wants or needs him to be.
Then Lewis learns his uncle is a warlock and Jonathan’s neighbor Florence Zimmerman is a witch. And thus things really get even weirder for Lewis Barnavelt.
One word I would use to describe The House with a Clock in Its Walls is “competent”. All the component parts of an orphan child tossed into a macabre environment with mystery, menace and mysticism are put into motion. The film looks good and no one really embarrasses themselves in the acting department. But there is a decided lack of wonder to the proceedings. Maybe after 8 Harry Potter films and a variety of efforts to launch other magic based franchises with children in the middle, perhaps I am a bit too genre savvy to the conventions of this kind of story.
Director Eli Roth is known more for adult horror fare like Hostel; it’s like he watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and figured he could mimic that close enough. Aspiring to Chris Columbus is not a high bar to hurdle. One wonders if a more experienced hand at this sort of thing, perhaps Steven Spielberg or Robert Zemeckis would have had the right magic to elevate this production.
The House with a Clock in Its Walls really shines whenever Jack Black and Cate Blanchett are on screen together as Jonathan and Florence. They develop a relationship that is unique with a lot of back and forth insult banter that underscore their affection for one another. This is no romantic “will they or won’t they” thing although if you want to ship them, you can. But what’s at work here is something deeper, a friendship between two souls who are more broken than they initially let on.
The casting of Kyle MacLachlan as Isaac Izard seems a bit off, crying out for someone less inhibited to chew up some scenery. Much like Renée Elise Goldsberry does as Selena Izard who is sadly on screen for too short a time.
HEY, DIDJA KNOW?
Renée Elise Goldsberry originated the role of Angelica Schuyler in the Broadway musical Hamilton, for which she won the 2016 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.
Overall, I enjoyed my time watching The House with a Clock in Its Walls. It is a good movie but I think there were opportunities missed to make this a movie better than good.
Then Lewis learns his uncle is a warlock and Jonathan’s neighbor Florence Zimmerman is a witch. And thus things really get even weirder for Lewis Barnavelt.
One word I would use to describe The House with a Clock in Its Walls is “competent”. All the component parts of an orphan child tossed into a macabre environment with mystery, menace and mysticism are put into motion. The film looks good and no one really embarrasses themselves in the acting department. But there is a decided lack of wonder to the proceedings. Maybe after 8 Harry Potter films and a variety of efforts to launch other magic based franchises with children in the middle, perhaps I am a bit too genre savvy to the conventions of this kind of story.
Director Eli Roth is known more for adult horror fare like Hostel; it’s like he watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and figured he could mimic that close enough. Aspiring to Chris Columbus is not a high bar to hurdle. One wonders if a more experienced hand at this sort of thing, perhaps Steven Spielberg or Robert Zemeckis would have had the right magic to elevate this production.
The House with a Clock in Its Walls really shines whenever Jack Black and Cate Blanchett are on screen together as Jonathan and Florence. They develop a relationship that is unique with a lot of back and forth insult banter that underscore their affection for one another. This is no romantic “will they or won’t they” thing although if you want to ship them, you can. But what’s at work here is something deeper, a friendship between two souls who are more broken than they initially let on.
The casting of Kyle MacLachlan as Isaac Izard seems a bit off, crying out for someone less inhibited to chew up some scenery. Much like Renée Elise Goldsberry does as Selena Izard who is sadly on screen for too short a time.
HEY, DIDJA KNOW?
Renée Elise Goldsberry originated the role of Angelica Schuyler in the Broadway musical Hamilton, for which she won the 2016 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.
Overall, I enjoyed my time watching The House with a Clock in Its Walls. It is a good movie but I think there were opportunities missed to make this a movie better than good.
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