Spoilers I guess?
Does anybody even read books anymore? Well I do, thank goodness for libraries! I was there to borrow something else when I noticed a creepy clown on the cover of this one book. Awesome, you got me interested! What do we got here? Well, if it isn't the newest edition of Stephen King's IT! I've never read this one before, so why not? I've read a few other books by King in the past and I've seen the TV-miniseries (I will refer to it as a movie from this point forward) and I remember liking them somewhat. Let's give it a go!
.... And after reading a few chapters. Oh my god! This book is long! A mammoth with over 1000 pages! I'll never finish this in time! Maybe it's just me, but "It" wasn't a book you can't put down because it's too exciting and you want to know what happens next. No, I found it hard to pick back up after taking a break reading it. The book and the movie suffer from the same problem (the movie to a greater extent), it can be pretty boring at times.
Let's state the obvious thing right from the get go. It should go without saying that the book is superior to the movie in many ways. Despite me having a hard time reading the book. It's far scarier and disturbing than anything they could put on screen.
I didn't care for the constant skipping between the present and the past. I think flashbacks work well in movies, but for whatever reason I don't care for them in books. Or maybe the problem lies in having seven main characters. Once you get through one character and their past the next one is waiting, dragging the overall story. I might have preferred if the book was divided in two parts, one with the childhood and the other with the adults.
It's hard to tell why the parts with the adult actors seem so flat and uninteresting compared to the child actors. To me, the child actors feel much more genuine, like they actually are the characters from the book, while the adults are just acting the role. Sounds stupid trying to explain it, but that's the way I feel.
The real show-stopper whether you look at the book or movie is of course "IT" aka Pennywise the Clown (played by Tim Curry). He is easily the most enjoyable part of either version! Whenever he is around something's happening! I may be scary, disgusting or very disturbing, but he truly breathes some life into this whole thing. The scene in the library (in the movie) is really the only part where they mishandled the character, he was too obnoxious and goofy.
The power of the dark side is strong in Pennywise!
The finale in the book makes more sense (although I'm not a big fan of that either), but the movie, oh boy, is it bad on so many levels! The movie does a poor job explaining the connection between the true form of IT and Pennywise. Maybe it would have been for the better if the movie scrapped the book's ending and created something original instead? Let's say, a final showdown with Pennywise instead of having him abruptly disappear from the last act without an explanation?
Here IT comes... the disappointment!
Obviously there were parts that had to be changed or left out from the book when they made the movie. I didn't mind most of the minor changes made for the movie or stuff they left out of the book. However, there was one big moment in the book I really would have liked to see make it onto the screen, but it was only briefly mentioned in the movie, probably due to time and budget restriction. Also, I'm glad they left out all the sex-capades from the book....
Essentially the movie feels like a poor man's IT, meant for those who will never get around reading the book. Which is what every movie does, I guess. I think the movie did the bare minimum in order to tell the story right and it trips over right at the finish line. I get it, there certainly were some scenes in the book that are not OK to be shown on TV (or anywhere for that matter....), still I question why bother making something if you can't afford to do it right.
I'm not sure I remember where I was going with this, but nevertheless, even though I have a problem with both versions, the movie and the book, in the end which one would I recommend? Well, if you don't mind reading definitely go for the book. Don't like reading? Watch the movie! Want to check out them both? Then, I'd say watch the movie first and then read the book. The book will fill you in on anything you may have been left wondering about by the movie, to the point that it's too much information. I don't think anybody appreciated that gangbang in the sewers close to the end of the book. Seriously, WTF?
****
IT's not over yet! There is a remake coming out, I don't know when, but soon I hope! I think remake is the wrong word to use here, after all, the first one was a TV-series with just 2 episodes and not an actual movie. As far as I know the new one will be a real motion picture! So exciting! Supposedly the new movie is going to be more faithful to the book, not sure how that's going to happen. How are they going to adapt such a long story for a movie that is what, 2 hours, 3 hours long at tops? (Maybe Netflix should make it to a 12 episode series instead?) Okay, so I'm worried, but still so excited! This is the right way to make a remake! Take films that didn't turn out so good or didn't have the budget to be what it was meant to be. Not remaking classics that were good from the beginning with!
Will we see the twelve year old kids' smoking like they did in the book in the new movie? I don't think so! Some things are just too hardcore for the audience to handle.
