The House with a Clock in Its Walls (Review)

The House with a Clock in Its Walls Is a Far Cry From Eli Roth’s Previous Works.

If there’s one movie this year that I thought was going to be an absolute train wreck of a movie, it’s The House with a Clock in Its Walls. Why you might ask? Well, because it’s a PG movie from the guy who brought us such family-friendly films as Cabin Fever, Death Wish and Hostile. Yes, I was expecting this film to be pure nightmare fuel. However, I’m man enough to admit when I’m wrong and I was way off… In my anticipation of this movie.

I don’t want to be too hard on The House with a Clock in Its Walls because it’s actually not a half bad movie for kids. Of course, kids movies aren’t always the highest brow or well made, but hey I’m not exactly the target audience. That being said, there were a number of things about The House with a Clock in Its Walls that I actually enjoyed. However, that doesn’t negate the fact that this film is far from perfect and even downright difficult at some points.

Let’s start with the actors at the center of The House with a Clock in Its Walls. Jack Black is actually pretty damn good in this film and I honestly could see him becoming a regular star of kid movies. He’s charismatic and never seems self-conscious with his “wakey” character, uncle Jonathan Barnavelt. In fact, I would very well say that Black is the backbone of The House with a Clock in Its Wall. He’s the most stable element of the entire film, save for Cate Blanchett, but then again she’s always pretty damn reliable as an actress. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the members of the cast that aren’t quite old enough to shave.

I don’t want to be too hard on Owen Vaccaro, especially because he’s just a kid. However, the kid is not very good at acting. Director Eli Roth messed up by giving him scenes that require any genuine emotion. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a certain charm in the excitement he tackles the role with, but he doesn’t have the talent to back it from an emotional standpoint. Then again, the character he plays borders on insufferable for the most part. The film tries to approach Vaccaro’ character with the mentality that one should “embrace their weird.” It’s a noble sentiment and one that I would normally be all in favor of, but the brand of weird we see in young Lewis Barnavelt is the same kind of weird you see in people who correct grammar in comment sections. Needless to say, he starts to grate on your nerves by the end of it. Surprisingly enough, I also wasn’t a fan of Sunny Suljic, who I actually enjoyed in The Killing of a Sacred Deer last year. Then again, his character is about as one dimensional as they come.

I’ve never been much of a fan when it comes to Eli Roth. I found his films lacking in imagination in all the worse ways. However, I was pleasantly surprised by his work The House with a Clock in Its Walls. It was a little rough around the edges, especially when it comes to a lot of the comedic sequences, but I think it’s a welcome change from his previous torture porn work and I can’t fault him for expanding his horizons. However, I think that Eli Roth was making a movie for kids when he doesn’t quite get them. Sure, the fart jokes are funny at first, but it feels like he falls back on gimmicks that he doesn’t really need to. After all, the script isn’t that bad, save for some issues with the act structure, and a lot of the written jokes land pretty well, especially when Black is delivering them. Personally, I think that this is all because Roth was a little too far out of the element he’s used to. That being said, while I’ve never been a fan of his before, I don’t dread his name anymore after seeing The House with a Clock in Its Walls.

A lot of the other issues in The House with a Clock in Its Walls are minor technical issues. The act structure is a little ill-defined, but that’s mostly because it tries to stuff so much into the very end of the movie. There are some editing problems that create pacing issues. However, this isn’t a bad film. It’s certainly far from great, but it’s very much what you might expect from, say, The Disney Channel, and they know what kids like. That being said, my favorite part of The House with a Clock in Its Walls are the moments when Eli Roth let’s his horrifying old habits shine through. There are some borderline nightmarish moments, but they’re never quite overt enough for me to call the film out over them. Either way though, if you’ve got a little one that’s looking forward to this movie then you’re in luck because it’s not excruciating. If not though, then I might suggest waiting for The House with a Clock in Its Walls to come to video before seeing it.