Despite all the rich elements — the fantastic cast, the wonderfully detailed production and costume design, an oddball family story of black sheep finding each other — there’s something missing from “The House With a Clock in its Walls.” It’s weightless, hop-skipping over necessary story-building, glossing over Lewis’ warlock training, as well as the personal histories of his guardians.
It’s all style, no heft, and there’s little personal connection to the characters. Piles of exposition pour out of characters’ mouths via speeches and monologues, rather than organically throughout the script. There’s a layer of artifice that never quite evaporates, never allows us to fall headlong into this world.
...every moment Cate Blanchett is on screen is a small saving grace. Her one-on-one scene with Lewis is far more gripping than anything else in the film, which unfortunately drags. Blanchett makes “The House With a Clock in its Walls” tick, but the cogs never quite fit together as snugly as they should.
Fans of the novel will be happy to hear that its spirit has survived translation to the screen more or less intact, although the plot has been shuffled a little.
...in the book Lewis is fat—and Vaccaro is not—and a crucial plot point revolves around him trying to impress a popular kid after being summarily rejected at his new school.
Film adaptations don’t owe fidelity to their source material, however, and if Lewis’ weight loss is the price Hollywood demanded in exchange for letting Black, Blanchett, and MacLachlan duke it out on-screen, it was probably worth paying. Black plays his usual well-meaning disaster—the scene in which he casts a spell by marching around the backyard in a fez squawking away on a saxophone is a highlight—and he and Blanchett, who have somehow not made a movie together before this one, should give some serious thought to collaborating on a screwball comedy. MacLachlan’s villain is closer to the scene-chewing he did in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. than the concentrated menace of Mr. C in Twin Peaks, but on the other hand, he’s playing an evil wizard whose life’s work was turning a Victorian mansion into a doomsday clock, so a little scene-chewing is probably in order.
Adapted for the screen by Toledo native Eric Kripke (TV’s long-running series Supernatural), The House With a Clock in its Walls opens with promise: with Jack Black as Uncle Jonathan hamming it up when he picks up Lewis at the bus station.
Preternaturally smart, Lewis (Owen Vaccaro) reads dictionaries for amusement, and his best friend is a superhero he watches on television. He needs help. So does his uncle, who is capable of taking care of himself and the big house he lives in and not much else.
Bellairs’ quirky and imaginative world is a big sandbox in which Kripke gets to play. There are some magical and fun moments, such as when Lewis uses his newfound supernatural skills on a school bully or when Lewis is the last kid chosen in a gym class game of basketball.
What’s missing, though, is a strong villain. MacLachlan in heavy makeup is underused and Isaac Izard is an afterthought as his ultimate dastardly goal: to turn back time.... The warlock may be powerful, evil, and back from the dead, but he's no match for He Who Shall Not Be Named, whose darkness is omnipresent in the Harry Potter movies even though the character isn't.
Lewis’ biggest obstacle is anything but supernatural, but rather ordinary. It’s the perils that come with being different and a newcomer at an elementary school, where even his quick friendship with a classmate named Tarby (Sunny Suljic) fizzles and leaves him so desperate to be liked that he is prone to doing questionable things with magic: not so much that it brings the villain in to the film, rather that's when the film struggles with identity.
It’s all style, no heft, and there’s little personal connection to the characters. Piles of exposition pour out of characters’ mouths via speeches and monologues, rather than organically throughout the script. There’s a layer of artifice that never quite evaporates, never allows us to fall headlong into this world.
...every moment Cate Blanchett is on screen is a small saving grace. Her one-on-one scene with Lewis is far more gripping than anything else in the film, which unfortunately drags. Blanchett makes “The House With a Clock in its Walls” tick, but the cogs never quite fit together as snugly as they should.
Katie Walsh
Tribune News Service:
Fans of the novel will be happy to hear that its spirit has survived translation to the screen more or less intact, although the plot has been shuffled a little.
...in the book Lewis is fat—and Vaccaro is not—and a crucial plot point revolves around him trying to impress a popular kid after being summarily rejected at his new school.
Film adaptations don’t owe fidelity to their source material, however, and if Lewis’ weight loss is the price Hollywood demanded in exchange for letting Black, Blanchett, and MacLachlan duke it out on-screen, it was probably worth paying. Black plays his usual well-meaning disaster—the scene in which he casts a spell by marching around the backyard in a fez squawking away on a saxophone is a highlight—and he and Blanchett, who have somehow not made a movie together before this one, should give some serious thought to collaborating on a screwball comedy. MacLachlan’s villain is closer to the scene-chewing he did in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. than the concentrated menace of Mr. C in Twin Peaks, but on the other hand, he’s playing an evil wizard whose life’s work was turning a Victorian mansion into a doomsday clock, so a little scene-chewing is probably in order.
Matthew Dessem
Slate
Adapted for the screen by Toledo native Eric Kripke (TV’s long-running series Supernatural), The House With a Clock in its Walls opens with promise: with Jack Black as Uncle Jonathan hamming it up when he picks up Lewis at the bus station.
Preternaturally smart, Lewis (Owen Vaccaro) reads dictionaries for amusement, and his best friend is a superhero he watches on television. He needs help. So does his uncle, who is capable of taking care of himself and the big house he lives in and not much else.
Bellairs’ quirky and imaginative world is a big sandbox in which Kripke gets to play. There are some magical and fun moments, such as when Lewis uses his newfound supernatural skills on a school bully or when Lewis is the last kid chosen in a gym class game of basketball.
What’s missing, though, is a strong villain. MacLachlan in heavy makeup is underused and Isaac Izard is an afterthought as his ultimate dastardly goal: to turn back time.... The warlock may be powerful, evil, and back from the dead, but he's no match for He Who Shall Not Be Named, whose darkness is omnipresent in the Harry Potter movies even though the character isn't.
Lewis’ biggest obstacle is anything but supernatural, but rather ordinary. It’s the perils that come with being different and a newcomer at an elementary school, where even his quick friendship with a classmate named Tarby (Sunny Suljic) fizzles and leaves him so desperate to be liked that he is prone to doing questionable things with magic: not so much that it brings the villain in to the film, rather that's when the film struggles with identity.
Kirk Baird
Toledo Blade
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