By Jacob Peeler and Fahad Bin-Jabbar

It is about the journey of a group of kids defending themselves and their hometown from the devious entity known as Pennywise. The children must overcome any and all obstacles in hopes to defeat the clown and to return the city of Derry back to its peaceful state.

It may be a horror movie, but it’s not your typical run-of-the-mill horror movie. Because It truly shines in its ability to portray stereotypes of characters and show character development throughout the movie, some may say the movie isn’t scary. The characters are all thoroughly fleshed-out.

Finn Wolfhard does an excellent job portraying Richie, who is the movie’s main comic relief, but still plays serious parts when deemed necessary.

Jaeden Lieberher plays the role of leading the pack of kids, and even though his character, Bill, may have shortcomings of his own, that does not stop him in pursuing endeavors that are for the greater good while convincing his friends to do the same.

All the kids do a fantastic job at playing their roles, but Pennywise, the clown, also deserves a mention in this review. Pennywise, played by Bill Skarsgard, has proven to be one of cinemas most interesting villains.

Throughout It, Pennywise uses the kids’ fears against them, but the characters start to overcome these fears and learn to use Pennywise’s only source of power against him.

Other notable characters are the bullies as they prove to have dynamic qualities that could easily be translated into real-life. At times, they come off as more scary than Pennywise once you see how malicious and willing they are to perform the most vile of acts to get what they want.

The parents of the kids, though minor characters, are still important because some of them are the main causes of some of the kids fears. Beverly Marsh’s dad and the bully’s father are two examples.

Richie, Pennywise, the bullies, and the kids and their parents all contribute to creating a good, meaningful, horror movie.