Parents' Guide to It Chapter Two

This nearly three-hour sequel has well-rounded, appealing characters and even some laughs, but it lacks the nerve-rattling scares and appealing simplicity of its 2017 predecessor. It Chapter Two stumbles a bit at the start; it doesn't draw clear lines connecting the younger actors and the older ones, and aside from the spot-on casting of Hader and Ransone and the fact that Chastain is the only woman, it takes a little time to get everyone straight. But then the long sequences of reuniting, balking at danger, and experiencing flashbacks and Pennywise attacks actually succeed at making our lovable Losers come together more like a family.

Teamwork is important here: Every time the group splits up, they grow weaker against Pennywise's scares. And even though Hader steals nearly every scene he's in (just as his younger counterpart, Finn Wolfhard, did in It), and his juvenile bickering with Ransone is hilarious, each member of the group becomes equally important. The horrors here seem more likely to cause shocked laughter than screams, perhaps because of the more complex adult targets, and It Chapter Two is viscerally a teeny bit less satisfying than its predecessor. But in the end, the characters win the day, and they most certainly turn into folks you'd want on your side when the clowns come creeping in the dark.