The house is a very old place (The House with a Clock in It's Walls 2018)

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The House with a Clock in it's Walls

6.5/10

Jack Black leads a cast and it's audience into a family film mixed with magic, horror and as always, a little bit of humour for good keeping. I can't really remember watching a movie based around magic since seeing Potter fling his wand about the screen in the well-known franchise. Cate Blanchett comes along for the ride, back to her usual fair hair rather than her jet black Hela look, which took the MCU for a little ride.

The story is of a young orphaned boy, recently losing his parents and moving in with his uncle, Jonathan, played by Jack Black. He's a little bit of a wizard and Lewis, the young lad, soon finds himself wrapped up in a world he didn't know existed. The old owner of his Uncle's house was a dark wizard and created a clock within. This clock counts down to the end of the world and Jonathan along with Blanchett's character, the neighbour named Florence, must find the clock and shut it down before it finishes it's count down to the end of the world.

 We follow the path of the young lad getting used to the world of magic and of course, making the mistakes that a youngster would make. This leads to the villain being resurrected before the boy can regain his Uncle's lost confidence in him and win the day and saving the world. In between, we have some back stories of Jonathan and Florence but the movie overall isn't too taxing, with it being aimed at a younger audience of course. There were times that you were left frustrated within the viewing. There were mainly as you seen this young boy constantly making the wrong decision with ease, just to be accepted by another. You could tell the way it was going to end but sometimes it's all about the journey you take from the beginning to end. With a little twist here and there and enough darkness to keep even an older viewer entertained, it turned out to be alright all in all.

There isn't too much you take into context when you look at a young actor or actress because they can grow into something more as the years go on. This time, Owen Vaccaro who played Lewis, seemed a little rough around the edges but wasn't afraid of getting into some action scenes. Jack Black enjoyed his role, giving it with his usual delivery of some eccentric scenes mixed in with some seriousness of becoming a guardian. The final cast member of importance would be Blanchett. She put in a stellar performance of a troubled widow, raked by guilt but still with an aspect of sensitivity that made you wonder what her story was from the beginning, up until the time all was revealed.

For the rest of the movie, I can imagine it wasn't a massive budget for the special effects but at times, especially the cosmic scene in the gardens, it did look really nice. Then again, some also looked quite cheap and dated. This isn't something that can bring too much damage to the movie though because this isn't a major aspect that the movie was made for. I'll be remembered for being a fun family flick with an interesting storyline and plenty of creativity around each corner. I don't think I would jump at the chance to re-watch this movie in the future but I do enjoy a bit of wizardry and how creators envision certain creatures and myths, bringing them across for the audience to see.