Yesterday this movie premiered in some of the Indonesian cinema chains. It was rather odd that it did not play in all cinemas, and since that was the case, there were limited options to see the movie. After discussing our plans, my wife and I decided to see this in the cinema nearest to my office at CGV Pacific Place. Although we did not have any idea what the movie was all about (never saw the trailer at all either), we thought it would be a fun one since it had Jack Black in it. OK, now let's move on to the movie.
Brief Story Line
Set in the year 1955, a 10 year old Lewis (Owen Vaccaro - Daddy's Home and its sequel) moved to live with his uncle Jonathan (Jack Black - Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Goosebumps etc) in the city of New Zebedee. Jonathan's house was an old and very weird looking place that seemed to have lots of strange stuffs. And there were countless clocks everywhere, plus rather scary sounds at night. Jonathan's neighbor and best friend Florence (Cate Blanchett - Ocean's 8, Cinderella etc) was always around the house and would soon become quite close with Lewis as well. But there was also another very nosy neighbor Mrs. Hanchett (Colleen Camp - The Swinging Cheerleaders, Clue etc) who was not appreciative of the noises Jonathan made during late nights.
Meanwhile at his new school, Lewis befriended a popular boy named Tarby (Sunny Suljic - The Killing of a Sacred Deer) and he always tried to impress Tarby. But it proved to be a challenge due to Lewis' unique appearance and staying at the infamous strange scary house certainly did not help. With the mystery surrounding the house start to unfold, Lewis would soon find out that his uncle was not as simple as he earlier thought.
So what was the house's secret? And could Lewis adapt to his new life with his uncle and friends? Find them all in this fun family friendly fantasy movie.
End of Brief Story Line
Now this was a movie that was very light and fun. It was based on a 1973 novel of the same title written by John Bellairs. The lead character in this movie (and some other novels he wrote) was Lewis Barnavelt. So yeah I guess if this movie is successful enough, there is possibility it can spawn into sequels. The story setting of the year 1955 certainly explained some of the characters background. The movie set, costumes, hair style, vehicles and other stuffs were done very well in here as it certainly seemed old fashioned enough.
The story itself was quite unique and interesting, especially when you knew nothing about it when seeing this. As the story progressed, we began to understand what the story would be. Now if you read the brief synopsis from the website, you could probably be able to guess but it might still give you a nice surprise. Being a fantasy film, the movie was also filled with various special effects. Although they were not abundant and definitely not up to the level of the big budget major Hollywood movies, but I felt it was good enough.
The cast of the movie did a wonderful job in portraying their roles. I loved the performances of Jack Black and Cate Blanchett in here who seemed really natural and truly convincing as very good friends (especially those funny banters between the 2 of them). They really made the movie felt alive from the start. And young Owen Vaccaro also did a good job as the young boy at lost and trying to find happiness again (my wife was particularly amazed at his face expressions especially when he was very sad or scared). There were also other notable appearances from Kyle MacLachlan (Inside Out, Twin Peaks TV series etc), a minor role for Lorenza Izzo (Sex Ed, Knock Knock etc) as Lewis' mother and also Renée Elise Goldsberry as Selena Izard. I think the director Eli Roth was pretty good in his first ever novel adaptation movie (his previous works included horror movies like Cabin Fever, Hostel or thriller like Knock Knock).
Watching this movie from start to finish, I felt a sense of fun and I actually quite enjoyed it. It had an aura of comedy, an intriguing plot, a quite interesting lead character, plus of course the great performance from the adult characters of Jonathan and Florence. There were few brief jump scare scenes but not up to the horror type. The background music was nice, although I personally felt the sound effect from the theater's sound system was terrible as it did not give the supposed surround system and I felt like watching my own TV. There was no mid or post end credit scene, but there were some quite fun animations that you could enjoy.
Overall, I think this would be quite an interesting movie option. I believe this movie is light enough for family to see (though not for the very young ones). It is rated PG 13 but funnily enough when I saw this yesterday, all of the audience were adults. My wife and I were definitely belong to the group who were entertained and enjoyed the movie. So if you are looking for a movie having a bit of Harry Potter-ish sense, then you could certainly give this a try as it might surprise you with some of the comedic moments. However, beware not to expect a heavy plot and dark sense you get from other fantasy movies. The choice is yours.
Happy watching!
Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
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