Huh, funny, I actually liked this one. Probably won't be a too popular opinion around here, but believe me (coming from a reader of the original book), they actually trimmed some stuff down. And took out some stuff that made the second half just absolutely crack-tastic (almost literally...).

However, as I gave the first one three-and-a-half, I thought it would only be fair to give this one the same, as I did have as many nitpicks with it as well. The transitions from present day to 80s flashbacks aren't always the smoothest, Ben has been reduced to a non-entity, and Jessica Chastain as adult Bev feels like a bit of a miscast to me. And some of these scenes felt like they should have been in the first movie, but at the same time, I kinda get why they did that: as a sort of compare/contrast between how the Losers Club dealt with their traumas back then and again as adults. I also felt this movie's run-time in the third act, but that part in the book felt pretty long to me as well.

OK, as for the good things...Bill Hader as Richie was absolutely fantastic, and I just want him to be in every movie from now on! Like on Barry, he just excels at walking the fine line between hilarious and heartbreaking. He basically got to show off his full acting range here. Eddie was awesome too, absolute pitch-perfect casting in James Ransone! Mike actually factors into the plot more than in the first movie, and I thought Isaiah Mustafa turned in a pretty good performance. And I bought the whole adult cast as this close-knit group of friends, even as some got the narrative shaft over others (I'm still salty about Ben and then the writing for Bev still wasn't great either...). There was an emphasis on Stan I appreciated. And I didn't want the kid cast to be written out entirely, so I was actually glad they were still in flashbacks. In general, I thought this one was much creepier and grosser this time around with the actual scares. Some genuinely disturbing stuff this time. Bill Skarsgard does such a great job again!

For those who don't like it, I can't say it isn't warranted, but this simply isn't a one-star movie to me (I've seen much worse, believe me). I found it too entertaining to be that way, for one. For another, I wonder how some of them will feel about the book, because it can be just as meandering, bloated, and downright weird as this movie was (saying this as someone who actually loves the book!). While I do think that, overall, the source material would be best served through a miniseries, I also believe that they did the best they could with the second half. Some hiccups, sure, but it would have been impossible to fit so much book into even a 3-and-a-half hour movie, let alone 2 hours and 45 minutes. I commend everyone involved for the effort!