The House With a Clock in its Walls Review
Who remembers The Haunted Mansion? That movie was utterly phenomenal, this movie reminded me of that, it was just very, very boring.
The House with a Clock in its Walls follows a young lad called Lewis who’s parents have recently died in a car accident. He goes to live with his Uncle Jonathan who turns out to be a warlock (a male witch). Interested Lewis wants to learn the powers and Jonathan is happy to, to an extent. The warlock that lived in the house before Jonathan was nasty and dabbled in blood magic so Jonathan doesn’t want Lewis to get carried away. But of course he does.
Lewis resurrects the evil warlock Isaac and now it’s a race against time to stop the world ending. Oh and there’s a house with a clock in its walls, and I feel like if Lewis hadn’t resurrected Isaac that whole storyline would’ve been mute, and, I don’t know, just felt like there was a lot of variants.
My issue with this movie, and I know I’m the wrong age bracket, but, a lot of the jokes felt forced and the storyline wasn’t all that interesting and honestly dragged. They really tried to develop Lewis’ character but without a heartbreaking or warming moment in the end it was for nothing.
There were red herrings I felt in this movie where actors were cast who looked very similar and were often shown or spoken about which made me think there was something there which wasn’t. And the actors we actually got to watch and follow within the movie weren’t that great. Even Jack Black’s performance seemed forced at times.
The issue is Jack Black is a fantastic comedian and so with the right directors behind him he can really shine. Sadly with this movie the writing was very cliche and forced and this definitely showed in his performance.
The twist did take me by surprise and I definitely didn’t expect it but after that sudden shock moment the rest was meh. The ending was underwhelming and it honestly felt like there wasn’t much of a plot. Everything hung on coincidences that if they didn’t happen would’ve broke down the whole story.
I’m glad I saw this movie because, from the trailer at least, it looked fun but sadly I was very disappointed. And I don’t think it’s down to my age either. Comparing again to The Haunted Mansion, that movie is still one you can really enjoy at any age and remember the best moments. The only thing I remember from this movie was they called Lewis ‘bug boy’ and his kind of friend looked a bit like a young Corey Feldman. Not something you really want to take away from a blockbuster film.
What did you think of The House With a Clock in its Walls?
Until next time.
Moving Picture Review 