'The House with a Clock in its Walls' Embraces its Weirdness

Jack Black and Cate Blanchett team up in a spooky adventure with Owen Vaccaro, as the young Lewis Barnavelt, who goes to live with his peculiar warlock uncle in an old-house with a cryptic tick-tocking sound. It's The House with a Clock in its Walls, based on the first of six volumes of the beloved children's book series by John Bellairs, directed by master frightener Eli Roth and penned by Eric Kripke.

Photo Credit: Universal Pictures

The House with a Clock in its Walls is comprised of what seems to be a perfect project for Tim Burton featuring a familiar Amblin mood with a lot of quirky characters and spells. There is a lot of kid-friendly humor in this, but it might be too highfalutin especially with Lewis's love for dictionaries. It helps a lot that the scare tactics involve a lot of magic, and children would surely appreciate that.

However, the film fumbles to exude a lot of crucial appeal and bewilderment a children's movie needs. The characters are not as iconic as the story requires it to be and the magic is not as prominent aside from the necromancy spell, which we have already seen in a lot of movies. If anything, it reminded me of Michael Jackson's Thriller music video and the latter did a better job in making it engaging.

It also moves a little slow to get to the point, making the mystery of the titular clock seem a bit astray and uninteresting. It's not until the final act--Cate Blanchett headbutts one of the jack-o-lanterns while using her magical umbrella (not the Mary Poppins kind), creepy dolls coming into life, and Jack Black turns into a weird-looking, crying baby--when the exciting and spellbinding action elevates the film even just by a little.

Photo Credit: Universal Pictures

If there's one thing to commend about this, though, is how it fully embraces its weirdness, and it works for the most part. Cate Blanchett and Owen Vaccaro are fantastic in the job, especially Vaccaro in the end when he finally embraces his courage to perform spells and face the demonic villains of the film. Cate Blanchett's turn as a cartwheeling old witch, a bit reminiscent of Eva Green in Miss Peregrine, is also a welcoming change in her choice of characters.

Kids will love this. They would relate to Lewis, especially with his school dynamics as a young student who wants to belong. And also, let's face it, kids love to be scared. Eli Roth designed this film for that, so much that adults might not fully enjoy, but the kids they bring with them would.