The House with a Clock in Its Walls is a 2018 American family fantasy film directed by Eli Roth, based on the 1973 juvenile fiction novel of the same name by John Bellairs. The film follows a young boy who is sent to live with his uncle in his creaky old house. He soon learns it was previously also inhabited by his uncle’s former friend who happens to be a warlock. I thought this movie was going to be a really good one, which is not the case.
The House with a Clock in it’s Walls is set in the year 1955. Ten-year-old Lewis Barnavelt (Owen Vaccaro) goes to New Zebedee, Michigan to live with his uncle Jonathan Barnavelt (Jack Black) who lives in a creaky old house which has a mysterious ticking sound that seems to be coming from the walls. Despite being recently orphaned, Lewis just wants to have a normal childhood but discovers his Uncle Jonathan is a mediocre but well-intentioned warlock, while his next-door neighbor and good friend Florence Zimmerman (Cate Blanchett) is a far more powerful good witch. The house was previously owned by Isaac (Kyle MacLachlan) and Selena Izard (Renée Elise Goldsberry) a powerful couple in the game of witchery and a partner to Uncle Jonathan. Before dying, this sinister couple constructed a diabolical plan that puts the whole world in jeopardy. The ticking has something to do with their plan, so Uncle Jonathan and Ms. Zimmerman spends most of their time investigating where and what the ticking is and what exactly, the plan, left by Issac and his wife, is. In the meanwhile, Lewis is trying his best to fit in and makes a friend, Tarby Corrigan (Sunny Suljic) in school.
I absolutely hated this movie. It was boring, slow and silly, as it was all over the place. I felt the whole production was a waste of Cate Blanchett’s talent. She is definitely over qualified for this role. While I realize The House with a Clock in it’s Walls is a children’s movie, I don’t think any child would fall for the ridiculous plot. I didn’t enjoy the movie nor did I find the cast convincing. This may have been the worse movie Disney put their efforts in. All I can say is The Clock and the House is a ticking time bomb. If you must see The House with a Clock in it’s Walls, try and wait for the DVD.
Animated movies are really not my thing. I didn’t like Inside Out mostly because the characters talked much to much. Most of the voices were too high pitched and fast paced. That combination really got on my last nerve. The dialogue seemed redundant because the subject was repeated over and over again. The concept is five characters: Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phylis Smith), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black) and Disgust (Mindy Kaling) all reside in the mind of Riley Anderson (Kaitlyn Dias) and their function is to keep Riley mostly happy from her childhood up through her teens and beyond. Their task becomes particularly more challenging when Riley’s parents (Diane Lane and Kyle MacLachlan) move the family from Minnesota to San Francisco where Riley must now adjust to a new life. The personified team don’t seem to be too stable themselves. They are always bickering about the best way to go about their task and everyone seems to rely on one person, the matriarch of the their family. The whole scenario of keeping Riley happy didn’t seem likely because these five characters in her mind kept botching their task causing Riley to be unhappy. This would truly be nerve racking to anyone but a child. So my advice to an adult would be “try and stay away from noisy children movies”. I don’t know if there was a shortage of animated films this year, but Inside Out was nominated the best in its category. Either I’m out of touch or I’m just way too old for the likes of Inside Out. With that said, I don’t think there’s any danger seeing it on on DVD and if you’re contemplating renting this movie, you’re probably getting it for your child or grand child. So, I say go for it. The children will most likely love it.
CAROL's WORLDS 