The House with a Clock in the Walls

The best: The promise of the story

The worst:  The failure to realize that promise

Comments:  The other day one of my sisters posted on Facebook that she "WANTS to like movies".  And I realized I'm the same way - I go to movies to be entertained and to be caught up into a compelling story.  I will forgive many errors if a show can achieve that.

And this movie completely failed to do so.

The House with a Clock in the Walls is a movie about an orphaned boy (10?  11?) who goes to live with his uncle he's never met during the 1950s.  He quickly discovers that his uncle and the neighbor lady can perform magic, and asks to learn as well.  During all of this he goes through the normal "young boy/new school" troubles you'd expect - a hard time making friends and a harder time fitting in.  Overshadowing it all is the clock in the walls, which is ticking down to something ominous.  Lessons are learned and obstacles are overcome as the young man settles into his new life and family.

But for a movie about magic it somehow forgot to inject any into the movie.  Everything felt flat and procedural, which is not at all what I want to see in a movie like this.  Interest parts were completely rushed through and skipped over - warlock training, the history of his uncle and the neighbor, getting to know the house, and even the majority of his school experience.  Any of those would have added much-needed life into the tale.  Instead those were sacrificed for pointless subplots and a rush into a main bad guy that added almost nothing to the movie.

We are presented with side characters that should have expanded the magic of the world - a griffin topiary that poops dead leaves in all the wrong places, a sofa that barks and acts like a dog, and a stained-glass window that changes and moves to interact with the humans.  But none of those are ever expounded upon, instead they are played in the background and end up just being noise that distracts from the plot without adding anything.  Magic is shown and could be - no should be - interesting, but instead it is rushed over without any development.

Younger audiences may enjoy the film for the very reason I disliked it - disjointed storytelling and empty promise may not be something noticed by a 7 year old.  But there is almost nothing in this movie for adults or even older teens.

I wanted to like this movie.  I just couldn't.

Rating:  3/10 - 3 points because kids could watch it, and it's not offensive