The House With A Clock In Its Walls Is A Charming And Welcome Detour From Director Eli Roth's Previous Works

 

       Making a family-friendly film is a tricky task in itself as the overall story must not only appeal to young audiences, but also manage a way to entertain adults as well. To pull off such a daunting task requires a filmmaker, who can give the story the right flavor to translate onto the big screen. In the case of The House With A Clock In Its Walls, that filmmaker is Hostel's Eli Roth strangely enough. To horror fans and movie buffs, Eli Roth is both the most unusual and unlikely person to handle such a kid-friendly project as his previous works are horror films that relied heavily on gratuitous gore and nudity for maximum shock value. Strangely enough to everyone's surprise, Roth proves to be an effective choice for the directors chair as he manages to deliver a family-friendly experience that's both fun and full of numerous tricks of its own. The House With A Clock In Its Walls has much to offer in regards to being charming, fun, imaginative, and ultimately heartfelt with its message directed at young children about embracing one's weirdness with no shame in doing so.

      Based on John Bellair's best-selling children's book, the plot for The House With A Clock In Its Walls takes place in 1955 and centers around a young boy (Played by Owen Vaxcaro) whose parents are tragically killed in a car crash with him ultimately being sent to Michigan to live with his estranged uncle (Played brilliantly by Jack Black). Once he arrives, he quickly learns about some special secrets that his uncle has kept from the family circle. What audiences easily expected to end up becoming a disaster in the making due to what seemed like a clear misplacing of its director at the helm, turns out to be a genuine treat for audiences both young and old. It also helps that he has the talents of both Jack Black and Cate Blanchett to help balance things out with his surprisingly gentle and fun-spirited approach to bringing this story to life. The House With A Clock In It's Walls is entertaining, mystical, innocent, and charming in the way it presents its story to the audience with the cast appearing as if they're getting a kick out of the overall experience. The movie has an admirable blend of both humor and horror mixed together, which results in a experience that proves to be undeniably fun, along with providing a much welcomed detour for its controversial director from the gore heavy horror films he generally tackles. For audiences, its hard to look at this film and not admire both its innocence as well as its desire to charm the pants off those watching it. For young audiences, this film has all the right elements for them to get engulfed in its story with the adding of both Jack Black and Cate Blanchett in the roles of the main characters to make it appealing for older audiences as well. Not to mention it works great as being a film that's best enjoyed around the fall season, particularly Halloween time.

      The performances presented here are key to making this story work along with giving the film the large dose of heart that's needed to make it work. To state the obvious, the acting here is both convincing and full of energy from everyone involved, making the film loads of fun for those watching it. As usual, Jack Black is terrific in the role of Lewis uncle and Warlock Jonathan Barnavelt. Black is no stranger to doing kids films as his work on both
Goosebumps movies benefits his work here. He brings the appropriate balance of fun and seriousness to the role, making both his character and the plot come across as being believable while clearly having a blast with his character. The same can be said about Cate Blanchett in the role as Jonathan's neighbor and witch Florence Zimmerman. Blanchett does well with counterbalancing Black's characters extreme and good nature with her more serious and stern tone. The one performance however, that proves to be most impressive besides Blacks and Blanchett's is Owen Vaccaro as Jonathan's 10 year-old orphaned nephew Lewis Barnavelt. Vaccaro creates a likable and sympathetic young character with him perfectly portraying Lewis as being a social outcast with a desire/desperation to fit in with the other kids, even going as far as disobeying his uncle's wishes in doing so. Vaccaro's performance is not only charming but works well with Blacks and Blanchett's with the three ultimately showcasing strong chemistry. In the films main antagonists roles, Kyle MacLachlan and Renee Elise Goldsberry both shine as the evil warlock Isaac Izard and Isaac's wife Selena, whose also an evil witch. Other noteworthy supporting roles are Sunny Suljic as Lewis popular classmate Tarby, whom he tries to be friends with despite the latter being fake, Colleen Camp as Jonathan's nosey neighbor Mrs. Hanchett, Lorenza Izzo as Lewis mother Lorenza in his dream sequences, and Vanessa Anne Williams as Lewis classmate and love interest Rose. The cast goes does much in regards to making this a fun experience for audiences as they each give the film a shot of energy, that makes the whole experience even more enjoyable. This clearly looked as if it was a fun project to be apart of and the cast looked as if they made the most of their experience being in the film.

      In terms of directing, Eli Roth completely shocks and impresses with his efforts here as this type of film is not one that he normally chooses to make, but proves to be a welcomed change as he's able to extend his profile outside of graphic films such as Cabin Fever, Hostel, and the 2018 remake of Death Wish. Roth gives the film a mysterious and spooky atmosphere that makes it feel like a Halloween film, along with it feeling like a traditional children's movie made from the 90s era. The costume and set design both feel perfect for the film with the interior scenes of the house carrying an authentic look with their wooden design and supernatural decorations being stunning to look at. The stories central location, which is a haunted house is given a solid and well-designed look that feels just right for the characters and story. The visual effects used in the film are not groundbreaking by any means with some obvious moments appearing to come across as looking fake (CGI baby Jack Black for example), but their overall use makes them reasonably decent, particularly the films third act when all the monsters and creatures are unleashed on the town in a vein similar to Goosebumps. The score by Nathan Barr is effective in enhancing the films experience of being a light-hearted story, that's main focus is on the concept of family and ridding the world of unnecessary evils. Barr really adds to the child-friendly atmosphere that Roth brings to the film shocking enough. In regards to the films overall visual and structural presentation, Eli Roth surprises audiences with his restraint here in abandoning his previous horror roots and creating something more down to earth that both young audiences and families as a whole can get behind. His work here is not groundbreaking by any means, but his effort to make a fun children's tale is one that deserves both admiration and commending.

      The films script by Eric Kripke works in terms of taking the classic 1973 novel by John Bellairs and modernizing it for today's audiences with characters that the audience become attached to and ultimately care about. The story gives off a vibe which makes it feel like it could've made for an ideal Goosebumps book or even a Harry Potter spin-off storyline considering both young characters are essentially Orphans. The script was designed first and foremost to be a family story with the character of Lewis being shown to overcome so much in his life thus far, while growing close with his uncle and Florence. The film is really Lewis story as the audience witnesses everything from his perspective making it serve as being a fun yet twisted coming of age tale that involves elements including magic, warlocks, and witches. The film deals with themes pertaining to loss with Lewis experiencing the death of his parents and missing them, acceptance as he wants to fit in with the other kids at school but is ultimately rejected by most due to being different, friendship as he desires to be friends with Tarby despite the latter not respecting him in return and looking down on him with Lewis becoming close with Rose instead. The film within all of its mystical and sorcery elements, carries with it a good message for young kids with the film saying that one should always keep moving forward, and all one needs ultimately is a good friend. The script is at its strongest when it explores concepts and themes, that are relatable to young children while surrounding it with fantastical elements that draws them into another world, creating a unique form of distraction for 105 minutes.

      Whereas those elements are among the strongest points of the script, its main flaws are that it sometimes comes across as feeling too standard and by-the-numbers for the type of film it is. Examples of such are Lewis opening the secret locked cabinet against his uncles wishes, creating a big mess for both characters to clean up as audiences have seen this type of subplot before. Another example is Lewis being visited by his mother in his dream sequences and being fooled into opening the cabinet his Uncle Jonathan told him not to touch. Lewis is presented as being a smart and wise kid that doesn't stop to question why his mother would ask him to go against his uncles wishes. It doesn't make much sense given that Lewis and his uncle have a strong relationship with no real explanation regarding why Lewis would want to jeopardize that other than to impress his friend in desperation to fit in. It would be a more convincing and believable subplot if Lewis and Jonathan experienced a fallout right before that twist. The audience can also feel the predictable tone of the script when witnessing Uncle Jonathan chastising Lewis character upon learning of his betrayal, only to be corrected on his behavior by Florence. The villains subplot is not innovative or groundbreaking by any means but still works with the tone of the story, despite the audience knowing that both Lewis and Uncle John would not only save the say but Florence's powers would return at the appropriate moment to help right things. Despite these faults with the script, there's much to enjoy and behold with The House With A Clock In Its Walls to make it recommendable to audiences as a fun-spirited fantasy film with the appropriate level of energy and heart to make it an ideal watch for both young audiences and families. For Eli Roth, this serves as being a pleasant surprise for audiences as he crafts an entertaining children's fantasy that can be enjoyed in a vein similar to Goosebumps
and Harry Potter. One hopes that he continues to branch out of genre with more surprising moments like this, as well as inspiring other filmmakers who find themselves stuck within a specific genre to take more risks and break type. Given that this was Roth's first time at handling a film that required a distinct visual flare, he handled himself very well and presented a harmless and engaging experience for young children with a terrific message behind it that encourages them to embrace their weirdness to the fullest.

Final Verdict: For fans of the classic novel as well as Jack Black, Eli Roth, and those looking for a fun family-oriented experience, The House With A Clock In Its Walls will fill their appetite as its cute, charming, and handled better than expected from its filmmaker.