WHAT’S IT ABOUT
Ten-year-old Lewis goes to live with his oddball uncle in a creaky old house that contains a mysterious `tick tock’ noise. He soon learns that Uncle Jonathan and his feisty neighbour, Mrs. Zimmerman, are powerful practitioners of the magic arts. When Lewis accidentally awakens the dead, the town’s sleepy facade suddenly springs to life, revealing a secret and dangerous world of witches, warlocks and deadly curses.
MOVIESinMO Review
Another Jack Black film and this time he’s a warlock. As an actor, he’s OK, and when he is the star of the film, there’s a 50/50 chance the movie will be good. His latest film, The House with a Clock in Its Walls is your standard Jack Black type of movie. It’s not good, but it’s not that bad. It’s just good enough to be somewhat entertaining for adults with just enough moving parts for a kid to stay interested. The House with a Clock in Its Walls is a very dark and gothic 1950’s story presented with the late eighties feel. That means political correctness does not exist. Some bullies use people, a nosey neighbor that complains and belittles, oblivious teachers, and bad parenting abound. What’s left are all the things that made every good eighties movie so popular. A kid comes to live with his estranged relative and is the awkward loser nobody wants to deal with. Lewis Barnavelt is that socially misunderstood kid and Jonathan Barnavelt is that uncle/warlock living in the creepy house. Tarby Corrigan is that stereotypical 1950’s bully and Mrs. Hanchett is that nosey neighbor. Although this is a well put together story, it moves very slow by today’s standards, and with the attention span of most kids (and adults), I wouldn’t recommend seeing this film in a theater with children. The main problem with The House with a Clock in Its Walls is ironically the story itself. Yes, it’s a good, not great, story but the year is suppose to be 1955. If the producers made this movie for kids, I think they forgot the history lesson they’ll need to give for their main audience to understand what’s going on. Why are they dressed like that? Why are they talking like that? Why arent’ the teachers doing anything about the bullies? Once you answer those questions and more, ask yourself, why does Jack Black keep making such mediocre movies?
OUR RATING – A THIN-WALLED 6.5
MEDIA
- Genre – Fantasy
- Street date
- Digital – November 27th 2018
- DVD/Blu-Ray – December 18th 2018
- Video – 1080p
- Screen size – 2.39:1
- Sound – English Dolby Atmos and Dolby Digital 2.0, Spanish and French DTS-HD High-Resolution Audio 7.1
- Subtitles – English SDH, Spanish, French
Extras
- Warlocks and Witches – Go behind the scenes with the enchanting cast of The House with a Clock in Its Walls
- Movie Magic
- Tick Tock: Bringing the Book to Life – Filmmakers discuss how they adapted the book for the big screen
- Eli Roth: Director’s Journals – Director Eli Roth takes viewers behind the scenes
- Theme Song Challenge – Eli Roth and the cast are challenged to come up with a theme song for the film
- Owen Goes Behind the Scenes – Armed with his own camera, Owen guides viewers on his own journey behind-the-scenes of the movie
- Do You Know Jack Black? – The cast compete with each other to see who knows Jack Black the best
- Abracadabra! – Eli Roth performs a magic trick for Owen Vaccaro
- Jack Black’s Greatest Fear – Eli Roth and Owen Vaccaro play a prank on Jack Black
- The Mighty Wurlitzer – Composer Nathan Barr discusses how he created the film’s unique and distinct score